Subjects

Notes

Abstract:

In this PDF textbook from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, works in the Museum's collection that embody the Renaissance interest in classical learning, fame, and beautiful objects are illustrated and discussed. This resource is designed to help educators introduce the richness and diversity of Renaissance art to their students. Primary source texts explore the great cities and powerful personalities of the age. By studying gesture and narrative, students can work as Renaissance artists did when they created paintings and drawings. Learning about perspective, students explore the era's interest in science and mathematics. Through projects based on poetic forms of the time, students write about their responses to art. The activities and lesson plans are designed for a variety of classroom needs and can be adapted to a specific curriculum as well as used for independent study.

F O R E WO R D W e invite you to enter the world of the Renaissance in Europe, a time of gr eat disco v ery and achie v ement in art, science, music, and literature. T he richness and di v ersity of R enaissance art is r e presented in many dif f erent departments at T he Metropolitan Museum of Art: in Arms and Armor, European Paintings, European Sculptur e and Decorati v e Arts, Musical Instruments, Prints and Drawings, and the Robert Lehman Collection. T he art selected for these teacher materials includes paintings, ceramics, armor musical instruments, and sculpture that embody the Renaissance interest in classical learning f ame and human achie v ement, and beautiful objects. T hrough the art of the Renaissance your students will disco v er the g r eat cities of Florence, Bruges, London, and T oledo, and meet the po w erful personalities of Michelangelo, Lorenzo deMedici, Desiderius Erasmus, and Eleanora dEste. By studying the human bod y gesture, and n a rr a t i ve, students will work as Renaissance artists did when they created paintings and dra w i n g s By studying perspective, students will e x p l o r e the Renaissance interest in science and mathematics. T hrough language arts activities based on Renaissance poetic forms, students will write about their response to art. T he activities and lesson plans are designed for a variety of c lassroom needs, and we encourage you to adapt these materials to your own curriculum, to approach them in an interdisciplinary fashion, and to let students choose topics for independent study from the e xtensions and connections. If possible, a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be the highlight of y our students encounter with the Renaissance. T his teacher resource is supported by a generous grant from Mr. and Mrs. F r ederick P R ose, who share our commitment to teachers. It has been tested through focus g r oups, sur v eys, input from New Y ork teachers, and consultations with educators throughout the countr y. T he Museums internet site at www.metmuseum.org will supplement the slides, texts, posters, CD R OM and activities of this resource. Philippe de Montebello Director and Chief Executi v e Of f icer K ent L y dec k er Associate Director for Education 3

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H OWTO U S E T H I S R E S O U RC E T he Art of the Renaissance presents selected works of art from the collection of T he Metropolitan Museum of Art. T his teacher pac k et is a visual guide to the works of ar t and a resource for curriculum de v elopment. Rather than pr o viding a curriculum, it will gi v e you the tools to create teaching units based on your own understanding of the Renaissance. In this w ay you can meet the interests and needs of y our specific students, and you can adjust y our plans to the time a v ailablewhether it is an hour, a week, or an entire semester T I M E L I N E W e sug g est you begin by looking at the timeline, in which thirty works of art appear chrono logicall y.T his visual reference allows you to see quickly the range of subject matter and the de v elopment of aesthetic ideas within the time frame of the Renaissance. I N T RO D U C T I O N T his is a general introduction to the art of the Renaissance and the world in which it was produced. S L I D E E N T R I E S Each slide entry presents a w a y of looking at the individual work of art and information about it. At the end of each entr y a list of T HEMATIC C ONNECTIONS opens a v enues for inquiry and discussion. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L T his selection of original texts from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries includes letters and contracts between patrons and artists, family letters, descriptions of ev ents, and philosophical writings. T hese sources pr o vide a cultural context for the works of art. P L A N N I N G Y O U R L E S S O N T his section is designed with the teacher in mind. Reading through this section will assist you in planning your lessons. 1. Q U E S T I O N I N G S T R AT E G I E S F O R T E AC H E R S T his e x ercise pr o vides you with a method of looking at a Renaissance work of ar t before you introduce it to your students in your individual curriculum. T he questions will help you explore the work as a primary resource. 2. A N I N T E R AC T I V E A P P R OA C H TO T H E U S E O F S L I D E S T his section pr o vides two activities to introduce slides in your classroom. 3. T H E S H O R T L I S T These works of a r t have been selected for the junior high and high school teac h e r s w ho ha v e limited time. W ith these slides, teachers can present the art of the Renaissance to enhance a social studies, humanities, histor y or art class. 5 P P 7 8 P. 17 P. 9 P. 79 P. 95

9 I N T RO D U C T I O N T he F r ench wor d r enaissance or r e birth, was first used in the nineteenth centur y to describe the period in w e s t e r n European history that spans the years r o u g h l y from 1400 to 1650, depending on the country and the type of cultural achie v ementpainting, sculpture, ar c hitecture, literature, science, or music. W ith the ad v antage of historical perspecti v e we see that a number of sources and e v ents that shaped this period started before or ended after these dates. In many w a ys the Renaissance builds on its medie v al heritage and flows imperceptib l y into the next major unfolding of European historythe Enlightenment. Fr om the thirteenth centur y European society e v olved from a primarily agrarian to an urban system. Fueled by the international trade in raw and manufactured goods, the independent citystates became vital commercial centers. Commerce created a more fluid social structure, one that r ewarded personal ability and encouraged political ef f ecti v eness. T he established hereditar y nobility still existed, but gradually it came to wield less influence as the new middle class of tradesmen, artisans, and bankers formed an increasing l y important social g r oup with g r eat economic po w er As in our own times, historical e v ents and technological in v entions helped shaped this fifteenthand sixteenth-century w o r ld. Precise tools of m e a s u r ement like the magnetic compass f a c i l i t a t e d the navigation of the globe, which in turn brought about economic and political expansion, as w ell as intellectual and technological e xc hangese v en a radical change in diet. Gunpo w der originally in v ented in China, led to the de v elopment of f irearms and cannons, which initiated a new era in warfare. Mass printing was made possible by the de v elopment of mo v able type, whic h also had been used pr e viously by the Chinese. T his changed the face of Europe, contributing to the standardization of language, and allowing more people access to more texts. W ith the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Greek scholars migrated to Ital y bringing Greek and Latin manu scripts, which they deposited in libraries like the Laurentian Medici Library in Florence. T he gr eat philologists of the time studied and edited these texts and pr e pared them for printing with far-reaching consequences; for example, Desiderius Erasmuss (1466) translation of the New T estament into Latin was a driving force in the Protestant Reformation. T he Florentines of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries characterized their times as a period of r ea w akening to the ideals and achie v ements of c lassical Rome, which they felt had been ignored f or a thousand years, since the fall of the Roman Empire. In 1492, Marsilio Ficino (1433 1499), a Florentine philosopher, wrote: This centur y like a golden age, has restored to light the liberal arts, which were almost extinct. In 1550, Giorgio V asari (1511), the Florentine painter, biographer, and art historian c laimed in his book Lives of the Most Excellent Painter s Sculptors and Ar c hitects that visual art was r e bor n with the painter Giotto. Giotto, who also was inspired by Roman ideals, initiated a more human artistic vision that reached its high point with Michelangelo L ESSON P LAN : E RASMUS OF R O TTERDAM P 179 SOURCE MATERIAL P 80 S LIDE 17 S LIDE 1 SOURCE MATERIAL P 79

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10 Humanism, the under l ying philosophy of this period, often is summarized in a quotation from the Greek philosopher Protagoras (ca. 485 B.C. ): Man is the measure of all things. Humanism r efers not only to the r e vi v al and publication of c lassical Greek and Latin texts b ut to new works of art modeled on classical Greek and Roman sculpture, painting, ar c hitec ture, literature, and music. T he Renaissance humanist authors imitated the style ofgreat R o m a n writers like Cicero, just as the artists studied and emulated ancient sculptors and ar c hitects. W hile medie v al scholars had interpreted classical texts to clarify Christian theolog y (for example, Thomas Aquinass reading ofAristotle), the authors and artists ofthe Renaissance took classical works as philosophical models ofreason, intelligence, and taste to be applied in the material w o r ld. In 1486, the young humanist philosopher Gio v anni Pico della Mirandola wrote Or a tion on the Dignity of Man in which he proposes a r ev olutionary view of the uni v erse, that individuals can be trusted to act on the principles of logic. He states that God has gi v en human beings the po w er to use reason to o v ercome original sin and rise abo v e i t in short, to think for them selves: Thou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will shalt ordain the limits of thy nature. It is this perspecti v e combined with the self-conscious a w areness of being part of something new and superior that gi v es a confident and cohesi v e character to the Renaissance. L O O K I N G AT T H E A RT O F T H E R E NA I S S A N C E When we look at and study a Renaissance work of a r t we take pleasure in it, and we are uplifted b y the expression of profound emotions, the subjects both human and divine, the spirit of disco v er y and the lo v e of antiquity .T he Renaissance, like the Middle Ages, w as a deeply religious period, although the educated lay population became prog r essi v ely more concerned with understanding the natural world and the human beings who inhabited it. In art, this was manifested in a new interest in naturalism, which the Italians found in their ancient Roman past and the northern artists found in the obser v ation of nature. T he intersection of these two approaches is one of the factors that defines the look of R enaissance painting and sculpture. Leon Battista Alberti (1404), a Florentine painter, sculptor, ar c hitect, musician, and poet w ho also was skilled in warfare, defined himself as luomo universale (the uni v ersal man)what today we call a Renaissance individual. Alberti wrote definiti v e treatises on painting, sculpture, ar c hitecture, and the famil y His seminal book On Painting w as extremely influential in its own time, and today it is considered a primary source for understanding the visual art of the R enaissance. W e will refer to it throughout this teacher resource. SOURCE MATERIAL P 81 S LIDE 12 S LIDE 16

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11 F ollowing are three major cate g ories, each defined by the approach to subject matter in R enaissance works of art. N A R R AT I V E Alberti belie v ed that istoria the story or narrati v e, was the most important approach for the painter .T he subject of the Renaissance story could be religious or secular. For example, altar pieces might depict the li v es of Mary or Christ, or mythological stories might decorate house hold objects and fur n i t u r e. Alberti urged visual artists to become friends with poets and orators, because their knowledge of many things could be useful in composing the istoria He g o es on to write, the istoria w hich merits both praise and admiration will be so ag r eeab ly and pleasantly attracti v e that it will capture the eye of w hate v er learned or unlearned person is looking at it and will mo v e his soul. P O RT R A I T U R E T he human face, both realistic and ideal, was another important subject for the painter and sculptor. Portraits could ser v e commemorati v e functions, such as celebrating a marriage, a birth, or recording a face from a death mask. L A N D S C A P E Landscapes often were used as backg r ound, in portraits and narrati v e paintings or relief sculpture. W hile landscape was rarely the main subject of a work of art, it was an important component of northern European painting T he characteristic treatments ofthe human f i g u r e, perspective, composition, and the materials in Renaissance paintings are discussed belo w. T H E H U M A N F I G U R E W ith the redisco v ery of c lassical figurati v e sculpture, including the nude of the pre-Christian w orld, artists be g an to look at the human figure as an object of aesthetic beauty in its own right. R ealistic r e presentation became important once more. Alberti writes: [A] painting in whic h there are [human figures] in many dissimilar poses is al wa ys especially pleasing .R enaissance artists sought to con v ey the illusion of mo v ement and thus adopted the classical contrapposto pose T his pose gi v es the illusion of ar r ested motion by creating a slight twist in the bod y. Alberti continues: to get the right proportions in painting living creatures, first visualize their bony insides, for bones, being rigid, establish fixed measurements. T hen attach tendons and muscles in their places and finally clothe the bones and muscles with flesh and skin in order to show clear l y where the muscles are. He discusses the importance of the use of light and s h a d o w to render the volume of b o d y parts, as well as to describe g e s t u r es and facial e x p r essions. Since antiquity, artists refer r ed to the human figure as a measure of proportion. T he Roman engineer V itruvius equated the symmetry and proportion of the figure with the plan of the temple. Alberti used V itruvian principles when he designed the faade of Santa Maria No v ella, in Florence. Albrecht Drer also follo w ed V itruvian ideas and measured people of all ages with calipers. He made schematic figure drawings, formulating systems of proportion and measur ement in the attempt to disco v er the ideal human figure. Leonardo da V inci worked with physicians to dissect cada v ers, drawing bones and muscles from his obser v ations, then checking N ARRATIVE CHECKLIST P 151 L E S S O N P L A N S : T H E S T O R Y I N A RT P A R T I, P 105, A N D P A R T II, P 153 S LIDES 4, 17, 21; P ORTRAIT CHECKLIST P 175 L ESSON P LAN : P ORTRAIT P 177 S LIDES 4, 18, 25 S LIDE 29 H UMAN FIGURE CHECKLIST P 115 S LIDE 13; L ESSON P LAN : C ONTRAPPOST O P OSE P 123 S LIDE 19 L ESSON P LAN : A F ORM TO M EASURE P 117

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12 his findings by measuring. Many artists compiled books and made prints that facilitated the dissemination of newly disco v ered anatomical information. For example, in the last quarter of the f ifteenth centur y Antonio Pollaiuolos engraving Battle of the Naked Men became a template for many of the poses depicted in R enaissance paintings. T he human figure needs a viable space in which to exist, mo v e, and con v ey a stor y.T hrough p e r s p e c t i ve, artists created the illusion ofa three-dimensional w o r ld on a tw o d i m e n s i o n a l s u r fa c e (picture plane) such as a piece of paper, can v as, wood panel, wall, cla y or stone slab P E R S P E C T I V E R enaissance paintings invite the viewer to look into habitable spaces where religious and mytho logical e v ents occur and where life is chronicled through the obser v ation of detail. Artists in both northern and southern Europe shared a belief in the po w er of obser v ation and in the v erity of w hat is seen by the eye. Albrecht Drer ag r eed with the Greek philosopher Aristotle that sight is the noblest faculty of man. Leonardo da V inci stated that obser v ation is the common mother of all Sciences and the Arts. He belie v ed that the eye is the least easil y decei v ed of all the senses. Artists devised pictorial systems like perspecti v e to imitate what they obser v ed. It has been said that in the north the room is fixed and the viewers eye is invited to w ander about the room or space, while in the south, it is the artists viewpoint that is fixed, and it guides the viewer to the important e v ent. Linear one-point perspecti v e is based on a mathematical system with a fixed viewpoint; Alberti was one ofthe artists who developed its underlying g e o m e t r y. He describes the picture plane as an open window: I first draw a rectangle of right angles, where I am to paint, which I treat just like an open windo w through which I might look. T his system guides the viewers eye through the picture plane to the focal point or v anishing point Atmospheric, or aerial, perspecti v e is based on the optical ef f ect caused by light being absorbed and reflected by the atmosphere: a mist of dust and moisture. Since mist is denser at Earth s surface, it scatters light and causes distant tones to be lighter. Blue light easily penetrates the mist, making the sky appear blue and giving distant objects a bluish cast. Leonardo da V inci c losely obser v ed nature and natural phenomena, incorporating atmospheric perspecti v e into his paintings. He also documented his obser v ations in writing: I say that the blueness we see in the atmosphere is not intrinsic color, but is caused by warm vapor e v aporated in minute and i n s e n s i b le atoms on w h i c h the solar rays fall. N o rt h e r n painters w e r e known for their mastery of atmospheric perspecti v e. Sometimes artists combined systems of perspecti v e, so we find both linear and atmospheric perspecti v e used in the same work of art. P ERSPECTIVE CHECKLIST P 127 S LIDES 2, 25 L E S S O N P L A N : L I N E A R O N E P O I N T P E R S P E C T I V E P 135 P 93 S LIDE 8

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13 C O M P O S I T I O N Composition is the ar r a n g ement ofthe elements ofa work of a r t. Or, as Alberti writes: Composition is that rule by w h i c h the parts ofthings fit tog e t h e r .Looking back to a n t i q u i t y a r tists developed systems ofcomposition based on harmonious pr o p o r tions, or the relationships of p a r ts. Classical composition applied measurable standards of s y m m e t r y, balance, and har m o n y; the golden r e c t a n gl e ,f or example, was adopted from Euclid, the ancient Greek mathematician. T his geometrical and mathematical construct was endo w ed with harmo nious proportions that had divine implications. It was emplo y ed throughout the Renaissance in ar c hitecture, painting, and sculpture. In addition, the composition of a Renaissance painting is inextricab l y linked with perspecti v e, the placement of the human figure and objects, and is further unified by the use of color and the distribution of light and shado w. M A T E R I A L S Fr om their earliest training, artists were taught to think of f orm and material as being parts of a single whole. T he g r eat frescoes, panel or can v as paintings, and sculptures are as much about material and technique as they are about f o r m or subject. In some cases, artists continued in the traditions of the past centuries, while others disco v ered new materials and images in the world around them. Paintings were e x ecuted in e g g tempera, oil, or fresco. For all three types of paint, the colors or pigments were extracted from minerals, v eg etables, and manufactured salts, including berries, flo w ers, insects, metal oxides, copper acetate, and other materials, w h i c h w e r e ground to a paste. The pigments for egg tempera w e r e mixed with egg y o l k a binder, and occasionally the white of the e g g was added. T his mixture then was diluted with w ater .T empera dries quickly and is most suitable for co v ering small, clear l y defined areas. It pr o vides colors that are pure and bright. T he same pigments, mixed with oil as the binder, wer e used for oil paint, which dif f ers from tempera paint in significant w a ys. Oil paint is a mor e malleable substance than tempera: its propensity to blend makes it a good medium for creating the illusion of light and shade. It also co v ers lar g er areas more easily and lends itself to v ariation of texture. F r esco is usually a wall painting .T he paint is applied on fresh plaster, hence the use of the Italian wor d fresco Sculptors continued to work in traditional ways, but with subtle c h a n g es as new appr o a ch e s to materials were disco v ered. T he softness of r ed chalk, a new drawing medium, allo w ed for mor e spontaneity of e xpression. Printmaking techniques allo w ed many copies of an original ar t wo r k to be made; this c h a l l e n g ed the uniqueness ofan image. The most popular methods of print making were woodcuts and engravings. T he art of embossing metal was r e vi v ed and used to create extraordinary dimensional decora tions on suits of armor. New techniques in the art of f iring made it possible to create costl y objects of majolica, tin-glazed earthenware ornamented with subtly painted narrati v es. T hese are only a few of the new materials and techniques that were disco v ered and de v eloped in the R enaissance. L ESSON P LAN : D RA W THE G OLDEN R ECTANGLE P 147 S LIDE 5; L ESSON P LAN : T EMPERA P 185 S LIDES 13, 16; L ESSON P LAN : P RINTMAKING P 191 S LIDE 19 S LIDE 23 S LIDE 20 C OMPOSITION CHECKLIST P 139

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14 T H E W O R L D O F T H E A R T I S T A N D T H E P A T RO N T H E A R T I S T Artists came from various strata of society. Raphael and Holbein were sons of painters, while Andrea del Sarto was the son of a tailor. Giotto was the son of a farmer, but Albrecht Drer s and Piero di Cosimos fathers were goldsmiths. Michelangelo came from the prosperous middle class. Filippo Ne gr oli was part of a lar g e family of armorers, each with a specialty J an van Ey c k and his brother worked together, as did Antonio Pollaiuolo and his brother An artists training be g an between the ages of se v en and fifteen, when a child was apprenticed to a master artist for at least f iv e years. Andrea del Sarto was apprenticed to Piero di Cosimo T he apprentices maintained the workshop, performing menial tasks such as s w eeping the floors, w hile they learned practical skills like grinding the pigments that would be used in the paint, pr e paring the plaster coating for wood panels, gilding, and punching decorati v e patterns on gilded halos and backg r ounds. Apprentices also practiced drawing with the master, and e v en tually assisted the master by completing the less demanding parts of a work, like the draper y. W hen the fledgling painter completed an apprenticeship he, or, rarel y she, was considered a professional, eligible to join the painters guild. Mer c hants, doctors, and bankers also belonged to guilds, precursors of the modern trade unions, which were or g anized either by trade or b y the raw materials the artisans used. Guilds established and maintained standards of perfor mance, and they might e v en be called on to settle disputes between artists and patrons. In Florence, the painters, because they g r ound and mixed their own pigments, belonged to the Medici e Speziali, along with doctors, pharmacists, and spice dealers. Goldsmiths joined the silk w ea v ers Arte della Seta as did the spinners who spun gold and silver into threads to be used in the weaving of costly cloth. Sculptors joined the stoneworkers and wood w orkersguild, the Arte dei maestri di pietra e legname In northern Europe, painters joined the imagemakers guild, while g oldsmiths belonged to the goldsmiths guild. T he guilds had religious af f iliations, each one being under the protection of a patron saint, and often they commissioned works of art to decorate their halls and chapels. It is thought that the Goldsmiths Guild in Bruges may ha v e commissioned Petrus Christus to paint Saint Eligius a de v otional painting, for the guilds chapel. Saint Eligius (d. 660), who was both a bishop and a metal w orker, was the patron saint of the goldsmiths. T he patron saint of painters was Saint Luke, who was belie v ed to ha v e painted the V irgin s portrait from life. T he newly certified artist usually joined the workshop of an established master and became one of his assistants. Depending on the type of w orkshop, the assistant might spend time studying anatomy by drawing male models, both clothed and unclothed. T he workshops could be specialized or di v ersified. For example, the workshops of Marco del Buono and Apollonio di Gio v anni and Sche g gia specialized in painting domestic furniture like marriage chests and birth trays. Another workshop might practice only one art form, such as painting, sculpture, or armor making. Other workshops practiced a variety of art forms. T he workshop of the Pollaiuolo brothers produced not only prints, sculpture, and paintings but also liturgical objects, brocade vestments, and domestic goldsmith work. Young artists who had completed their training trav e l e d widely to broaden their knowledge before setting up their own shops. SOURCE MATERIAL PP 85 S LIDES 19, 15 S LIDE 6 S LIDES 5, 7 S LIDE 23 S LIDES 14, 17 S LIDES 19, 1, 13 S LIDES 15, 16 S LIDE 23 S LIDE 2, P. 93

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15 A number of w omen worked as artists. Nuns illuminated, or decorated, manuscripts, and they painted their religious visions on the walls of their con v ent or chur c h. Daughters of established artists, like the Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi (c.1597after 1651), often trained in their f athers w orkshops. Philip II invited Sofonisba Anguissola (1532/1535), whose four sisters also painted, to be an artist in his court at Madrid. P A T RO N S T he patrons were the individuals and or g anizations who commissioned the works of art we see toda y.T raditionall y patrons and collectors were aristocrats. Philip II of Spain, one of the g r eat collectors, invited nati v e and foreign artists to his court in Madrid. T he dukes of Burgund y patronized Jan van Ey c k and other artists in Bruges. T he Catholic Chur c h remained a major patron of the arts during the Renaissance, through the popes and other prelates, as well as the con v ents, monasteries, and confraternities (assemblies of lay persons dedicated to strict religious obser v ances). Pope Julius II invited Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the artist s Studies for the Libyan Sibyl w as done in pr e paration for the project. Raphael, who also painted frescoes in the V atican, was commissioned by the con v ent of SantAntonio da Pado va at Perugia to paint the altarpiece Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints T he new middle class, wishing to emulate the aristocrac y quickly learned they could ele v ate their status and beautify their homes by acquiring and sponsoring art. T hey often competed with the Chur c h and the aristocracy for the services of the better known artists. T he Florentine wool mer c hant Francesco Pugliese commissioned Piero di Cosimo to do a series of secular paintings, one of w hich may be A Hunting Scene Nicholas J ongelinck, a businessman from Antwer p commissioned Pieter Brue g el the Elder to paint a series of the Labors of the Months to decorate a room in his suburban home. T he Harvester s is one of these. Chur c h reno v ations and decorations were sup ported by lay patrons, who sometimes also decorated their pri v ate chapels in the c hur c hes with de v otional paintings and sculptures. Many times the patrons would specify that their portraits be painted within religious scenes, to directly connect them with the religious e v ent. Fifteenthand sixteenth-century artists, especially in southern Europe, enjo y ed a new status. No longer thought of as mere craftsmen who produced predictable though high-quality products, they came to be recognized as individuals, and at times e v en geniuses. Tw o celebrated examples are Leonardo da V inci in the south and Albrecht Drer in the north. As has been noted, the Renaissance was an age of striking personalities, g r eat achie v ement, and startling contrasts. W ithin one hundred years Leonardo da V inci (1452), Michelangelo (1475), and Raphael (1483), in southern Europe, and Albrecht Drer (1471 1528) and Hans Holbein (1497) in the north produced their g r eat works. Columbus encountered the New W orld (1492), Copernicus articulated his heliocentric theory of the solar system (1543), and Martin Luther posted his ninety-f iv e theses in W ittenberg (1517) that led to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. T he Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of the g r eatest collections of R enaissance art in the w orld. W e invite you to embark on a journey into the Renaissance through selected works of art from its collections. W e hope this resource will inspire you to visit the Museum with your students and that you will take pleasure in the presence of the works of art themselves. M ERODE A LT ARPIECE OF THE A NNUNCIATION R OBER T C AMPIN F LEMISH CA 1377: OIL ON W OOD ; 56.70 INTHE COLLECTIONOFTHE C L OISTERS SOURCE MATERIAL P 89 S LIDE 16 S LIDE 14 S LIDE 15 S LIDE 25

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F or we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him. (Matthew 2:2) T he golden sky or heav e n l y sphere with angels and star connects the two biblical nar r a t i v e s illustrated in this small panel, the Adoration of the Magi also known as the Epiphan y, and the Annunciation to the Shepherds. T he triangular shape of the mountain both f orms the backdrop and points hea v enward; the gold illuminates the spiritual truth of the e v ent. T he central focus of the painting is the Christ Child, held for all to see by the kneeling magus, w ho has laid his cr o wn on the g r ound in a gesture of humility. Joseph, on the left, leans to w ar d the child and holds the maguss gift. T he two other magi look to w ar d Christ, as does Mar y as she rests in the stable. T he body of one of the magi is turned slightly to w ard the viewer, perhaps inviting us to participate in the moment, e v en though the gestures and the positions of these f iv e figures appear to encir c le the child. Giottos vision is f illed with humanity Behind Joseph, two shepherds with bagpipe and dog, also wonder at the news the angel tells them: Be not afraid; for behold I bring you g ood news of a g r eat joy (Luke 2:10). T he logical and ordered composition is arranged like a stepped stage, on which the scene of the adoration of the magi in the f or egr ound ov erlaps the annunciation to the shepherds in the middle g r ound .T he angels are part of the hea v enly spher e in the backg r ound ; two of them gesture to w ard a higher presence, not visible in this panel. Giottos human vision deeply af f ected later artists. According to Giorgio V asari, he brought to l i f e the great art ofpainting as we know it today, introducing the technique of d r a wing dir e c t l y from life, which had been ne g lected. Giottos famous fresco c yc les, such as those in the Arena Chapel in Padua, ser v ed as textbooks for other artists, and he influenced many of the g r eat artists of the Italian Renaissance, including Michelangelo .T his panel is one of a series of se v en that depicts the life ofChrist. Giotto may have painted them for a p re d e l l a on a large a l t a rp i e c e Giotto, the son of a poor peasant, was disco v ered by the painter Cimabue, who became his master. Apparently Giotto lo v ed to play jokes, and one day in Cimabues workshop he painted a f ly on the nose of one of [the masters] figures. [It was] so lifelike that when Cimabue r eturned he tried se v eral times to brush it of f with his hand before he realized his mistake (Vasari, Lives pp. 57). 17 G I OT T O D I B O N D O N E S LIDE 1

T hese two panels, T he Crucifixion and T he Last Judgment ha v e been said to resemble tw o small theatrical worlds. T he pictorial space is pac k ed profusely with details and a dramatic display of physiognomies, costumes, actions, emotions, and landscape. T h e o b s e r vation ofdetail is perfect, yet the dimensionality ofthe scene seems monumental in its p r esentation. In this work, we see that Jan van Eyck was a great and masterful painter, skillfully utilizing his knowledge of sophisticated oil techniques and beautiful, rich pigments to create a Christian vision. T o understand these paintings one must study them closel y At first g lance, they will r ev eal only the broadest ideas of their subjects, eac h compositionally structured according to its content. T he Crucifixion shows Christ on the central axis of the composition. T he scene is taken from the narrati v e moment in whic h one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and w ater (John 15:35). T he spear creates a visual diagonal, with strong emotional content, pointing to Christ. On either side are two other crucifixions, clear l y dif f erentiated from Christ, the thie v es hanging blindfolded and twisted. Below are soldiers, onlookers, and bystanders. In the f or egr ound a g r oup expressing g r eat grief at the e v ents is set apart from the activity by an empty patch of gr ound. T his biblical narrati ve incorporates costumes contemporary to van Ey c ks time. It is belie v ed that the man dressed in the height ofstyle in a coat with ermine trim who is standing below the thief on Christs left m a y be the aristocrat who commissioned the painting. The Last J u d g m e n t s h o ws us both heaven and hell. In the lower halfis the vision ofhell on the d a y o f the Last Judgment. Fantastic monsters and nightmarish cr e a t u r es are por t r a yed in c h a o t i c a b a n d o n The perforated space above, a visual purg a t o r y, gives way to the or d e r liness and har m o n y of t h e h e a v e n l y sphere. Neither vision can fully pre p a r e us for the other. They are disparate, and v a n E y ck brings them within the moment ofchoice: the horrors ofhell or the vision of p a r a d i s e He lays out bef o r e us the cosmology ofChristianity and allows us to experience, more c l e a r ly perhaps than any other painter, how the use off o r m can create story and composition. Van Eyc k s r e m a r k a b le skill is visible in the rendering ofatmospheric and light effects. In T h e C r u c i fi x i o n w a r m and luminous tones separate near space from the blue ofthe distant space in w h i c h we see a city. With infinite patience and tiny br u s h s t ro k es, he r e c o r ded the smallest of o b s e r v a b le details and tonal gradations. In both paintings, rich, pure, bold colors abound, and we see his ability to modulate color and f o r m under the effects oflight. Notice the jew e l l i k e s u r f aces and inter l o c king color harmonies, and how the colors move the eye from f i g u r e to f i g u r e in The Crucif i x i o n Pictorial space in that painting is created by the decreasing size ofthe f i g u re s and the suggestion ofatmospheric perspective. In the hell scene of The Last J u d g m e n t inter l o ck i n g shape and line create dense activity and movement, while a powerful v e r tical thrust culminates in the f i g u r e ofChrist. Ev e ry wh e r e there is exactness o f detail, fullness off o r m. His understanding o f the nature and essence ofobjects persuades us that this is not a vision but an actuality. T a k e note ofthe poignant e x p r essions on the faces, the clear dramatic gesturing of a r ms and legs. T h e s t o r y is told by means ofthe ar t i s t s understanding ofhuman emotions. J A N V A N E Y C K 19 S LIDE 2

A P OT H E C A R Y J A R S LIDE 3 T his e g g-shaped apothecary jar ( orciuolo ) has a short neck and two double-strap loop handles; it is made ofa tin-glazed ear t h e n wa r e called m a j o l i c a Majolica jars w e r e ideally suited for storing herbs and other medicinal components found in Renaissance apothe caries, or pharmacies, because they k e pt substances dry and pr ev ent ed e v aporation. Often, the jars were sealed with a piece of f abric stretched o v er the mouth and tied tightly with string around the lip T his jar is painted in a thickl yapplied deep blue pigment (manganese), the only color t h a t f i f t e e n t h c e n t u r y kilns w e r e able to cont r ol. The pattern of stylized oak lea v es or fern fronds is reminiscent of the decorati v e patterns used on pottery from Moorish Spain, and these o v erall patterns are found on many jars from this period. T he middle of each side is decorated with a stylized crane facing right with a roundel on its bod y. T here is a crutch painted on either handle of this jar, which is visible in the detail, p. 22. T he crutch is a symbol of the oldest and best-known monastic hospital in Florence, Santa Maria N u o va. Late-medieval and Renaissance hospitals w e r e powerful institutions that played impor t a n t r oles in the civic and religious life of the city or town in which they were located, serving also as asylums for the indigent and the sick, and for orphaned or illegitimate children. Like Santa Maria Nuo v a, they frequently owned lar g e tracts of land that pr o vided grain and other food products for both their own needs and to sell. An ar c hi v al document r ev eals that Giunta di T ugio, the maker of this and other apothecar y w ares, deli v ered many majolica containers to the hospitals pharmacy in 1431, of w hich this jar is belie v ed to be one. An apothecar y or pharmacist, belonged to the Medici e Speziali the same guild as the painters, because both pr o f essions used similar types of r a w materials (See p. 14). The diffusion of p r i n t e d books made possible the wide a v ailability of pharmacopoeias (handbooks) telling how to iden tify and combine herbs, minerals, and spices, causing pharmacies to g ro w in number and size. The w o r ld ofan apothecary shop recalls R o m e o s famous lines when he hears ofJ u l i e t s death: O mischief! thou art swift T o enter in the thoughts of desperate men. I do remember an apothecar y. Later the apothecary enters the scene, and Romeo says: Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor ; Hold, there is forty ducats; let me ha ve A dram of poison. (Shakespeare, R omeo and Juliet act 5, scene 1) 21

F R A F I L I P P O L I P P I S LIDE 4 W ho are these people? T he viewer is invited to look into and through a room in a Florentine palazz o .T here are stone moldings around the windows and the ceiling is cof f ered .T he light falls on the profiles of a man and a woman, and the man s casts a shadow on the back wall. T he faces are outlined and the details of their clothes are finel y drawn. T he tempera colors are clear and opaque. T he features and the status of the woman ar e r ecognizable; the man s placement almost makes his portrait look like an afterthought. T he woman displays her wealth and social class through her fashionable clothing and jewelr y. In an equally fashionable gesture, she holds the e x cess fabric of her outer, fur-lined garment, a giornea with or g an pleats beginning at the midrif f Her high forehead, w h i c h has been modishly pluckeda sign of e l e gance and f e m a l e b e a u t y is further set of fb y an elaborate headdress in the shape of a saddle, called, in fact, a sella alla francese or F r ench-style saddle. Its embroidered cap is edged with pearls and completed with a train, whic h also is embr o i d e r ed and decorated with pearls. P e a r ls, a symbol of p u r i t y and wealth, were the cr o wning glory of a wealthy woman s costume. T he w or d leal[t] meaning fidelity is embroidered with pearls on the slee ve of the giornea .T he woman wears a pearl necklace, two brooches (one on her shoulder and the other on the headdress), and many rings on her f ingers, symbolic of her acceptance into her husbands extended famil y.T he man wears a bright r ed hat, a ber r etta alla capitanesca and he also wears a ring on his little finger .W ith his hands he may be indicating the coat of arms of his famil y the Scolari. T he two people are placed in front of the far window that leads our eyes into a landscape. T h e a r c h i t e c t u r e surrounding the windows defines the space, w h i c h is constructed in linear one-point perspecti v e. T o see how linear perspecti v e works in this painting, let your eye find the ledge on the lo w er left side of the painting. Follow the line of the ledge to the c o r ner ofthe r o o m Imagine the line going through the wall and joining the w o r ld outside. No w look at the ceiling and follow the line made by the left edge of the ceiling and wall. Ifboth linesthe line of t h e l o wer ledge and the line ofthe ceilingw e r e e x t e n d e d they would meet behind the w o m a n s cheek. This juncture is called the vanishing point Although scholars do not ag r ee on w h y this double profile portrait was commissioned, town r ecords indicate that Lorenzo di Ranieri Scolari (1407) married Agnola di Bernardo Sapiti in 1436. T he painting may ha v e been made to record the sitters marriage or the birth of their first child. It has also been sug g ested that the awkward placement of the man may be intended to recall the biblical lo v e song from the Song of Solomon (2:9): My belo v ed Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. A D D I T I O NA L I N F O R M AT I O N F ra Filippo Lippi was educated and took his monastic v o ws in the monastery of the Carmine in Florence (Fra is the title gi v en a monk). V asari says that as a child instead of studying [Filippo] spent all his time scrawling pictures on his own books and those of others, so e v en tually the prior decided to gi v e him e v ery chance and opportunity of learning to paint. As a 23

A b i r th tray, or desco da par t o is made ofwood, often painted on both sides, and usually round in shape. It was given as a gift to an expectant mother, and was used to carry sweets to her. The trays w e r e considered auspicious for the infant, and after the birth they w e r e pr e s e r v e d f or posterity and displa y ed in the home. T his desco da parto too lar g e to ha v e been used as a tra y is thought to ha v e been commissioned by Piero de Medici to honor the birth of his son Lorenzo de Medici (1449). T he subject of the front panel is the T riumph of F amemost appropriate for the man w hose name, Lorenzo the Magnificent, became synonymous with the Renaissance. A celebrated ruler as well as a poet and patron of the arts, he was an example of the enlightened Renaissance Man. In this painting, Fame holds a s w ord in one hand and a cupid in the other, perhaps as symbols of w a r v a l o r and love. She is the f o c a l point, placed in the center, high abo v e the knights on horseback who con v er g e from all directions extending their hands in allegiance or exhortation to her. She stands on a perforated globe from which trumpets emer g eit is easy to imagine that they pla y a fanfare. Directly below her, a prisoner dressed in saffron clothes is bound to the pedestal t h a t s u p p o r ts the globe, while behind her appears the w o r ld in miniature: earth, cities, and sea. T he composition of this circular painting is symmetrical. T he top and bottom halves ar e distinct. T he two trees placed on either edge of the diameter draw attention to the horizontal axis, while Fame and the prisoner define the central vertical axis. T he landscape is described in unearthly pale and dark colors that run deep into the backg r ound. Red adorns the mantles of the knights g ray armor and the horsessaddles. Painted with tempera, the colors are vivid, crisp and opaque. W hat is a triumph and w h y is fame described as in triumph? T he classical triumph was an ancient Roman tradition that honored the return of a victorious general with a parade of his soldiers, prisoners, and spoils through the city streets. T he g r eat Florentine poets Gio v anni Boccaccio and Petrar c h created alle g orical triumphs using themes such as Lo v e, Chastity, Fame, F ortune, and Death. Both poets describe Fame in triumph as a winged goddess, the former in his Amorosa V isione and the latter in his T rionf i .T he ancient triumphs also inspired the street pageants and other popular processions that celebrated both religious and civic e v ents in Florence. T he Medici family lineage is documented on both sides of the tray: the marriage of Lorenzo s f ather and mother, Piero de Medici and Lucr e zia T ornabuoni, united the two most po w erful f amilies of Florence. T he ostrich feathers, symbolic of steadfastness, that decorate the front rim o f the frame are one of P i e ro s heraldic devices. On the reverse side, a banderole, or long narrow streamer, with the wor d Semper (For ev er) written on it, unites three ostrich feathers to the Medicis diamond ring .T he two families coats of arms are displa y ed at the top S C H E G G I A 25 S LIDE 5

T he eye is drawn to this painting by its impelling characters, its color, and its intricac y. T hree people appear before us in a very small room. A central figure clothed in the boldest of r eds sits behind a counter, holding a balance. T o his right an ele g antly attired man and woman stand closely together. Carefully arranged objects sit on shelves to their left, and others rest on the counter before them. T he peoples faces are lit by warm, strong light, and their gazes and gestures direct our eyes to look into this intricate world. It is not long before we see on the counter a small o v al frame with the imag e of two very small people standing in a street of ro w houses. At first this appears to be a painting within a painting, but when we see a red reflection from the man s bold red shirt along the edge, we realize it is a mir r or .T he artist, Petrus Christus, has gi v en us, the viewers, a space of our own. W e find w e are on the same street as these two people, looking with them into this interior that has been identified as a fifteenth-century goldsmiths shop in Bruges, the artists city of origin, in what is today Belgium. In this shop are the raw materials of the goldsmiths tradea branch of coral, crystal, p o rp hy r y, and open sacks ofseed pearls and precious stones. T h e r e are also the finished pr o d u c t s : brooches, rings, a belt buckle, a crystal container for the chur c h, a cup made from a coconut, and on the top shelf, a double wedding cup and other pewter vessels that city of f icials might aw ard to distinguished guests on of f icial occasions. T his in v entory of objects tells us not onl y of the time and the trade, but sug g ests an intermingling of the sacred and the secular L e t s r e t u r n to the three people and the space they occupy in the painting. As we said bef o re this is a small space, narrow and shallow. We see how c l o s e l y the wall and shelves press in on the peoplethere is bar e l y room for them to stand, let alone move about. This c l o s e n e s s i n t e n s i f ies our encounter with these people and the visual experience oftheir w o r ld. We see ev e r ything in great detail, from their elaborate headgear to the w o m a n s ric h l y te x t u r ed br o c a d e d r ess and the e x p re s s i ve faces. On the shelf a box lined in red holds thirteen rings; we see another ring on the goldsmith s counter, placed between his fingers. T he woman s gaze and her pointing hand direct our focus there, as do the many circular shapes (scales, gold coins) of objects sharing the counter space. It is these details that suggest to us that this betrothed couple is here choosing rings for a wedding ceremon y.T his is confirmed by the long maroon-red ribbon also on the counter, a betrothal girdle now cast aside. Although we do not know the identities of the man and woman, it has been sug g ested that t h e man in the brilliant red jacket is Saint Eligius, the patron saint ofgoldsmiths. We v e n t u r e into the mingling worlds of the secular and the sacred through his image, seeing his eyes gaze into an unknown source of illumination, perhaps divine light, and the small, inexplicable space in whic h these people find themselves is less actual than visionar y.T he painting guides us from this world to another world: where we stand, as defined by the mir r or on the counter, reminds us of the separation but co e xistence of the sacred and secular worlds. P E T RU S C H R I S T U S 27 S LIDE 6

M A RC O D E L B U O N O A P O L LO N I O D I G I O V A N N I S LIDE 7 T he subject of this narrati v e panel is the Book of Esther (2:17) from the Old T estament: King Ahasuerus [of P ersia] lo v ed Esther [a Jew] more than all the women, and she found grace and f av or in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the roy al cr o wn on her head and made her queen. T hen the king g av e a g r eat banquet to all his princes and ser v ants. T hrough this marriage Esther would be able to sa v e the Jews. T he composition is simple; it is divided into exterior and interior scenes. T he story is r ev ealed in three sequential episodes, reading from left to right, like a comic strip. In the for egr ound, the Persian king Ahasuerus arri v es in Florence on a gray horse. Gold leaf deco rates his fashionable attire and distincti v e puff-shaped hat. He appears a second time, at his marriage to Esther, in the left-hand section of the loggia. Esther wears a blue cap and a fashionable dress, also decorated with gold leaf. Ahasuerus appears a third time standing in front of the banquet table where Esther is seated. Mordecai, a key figure in this story and Esthers cousin, is on the outside of the loggia looking in. T he story has been set in fifteenth-century Florence. T he building on the left with its rusticated gr ound floor resembles the Palazzo Medici, while the chur c h is reminiscent of f ifteenth-centur y images of Santissima Annunziata, a chur c h in the same neighborhood. T he loggias, or pri v ate porticos, were built as extensions of f amil y palazzi pr o viding space for the family business, as w ell as a sheltered place for entertaining and enjoying fresh air. Painted in tempera, the colors are bright and clear, and the walls of the loggia are co v ered with gold leaf O r i g i n a l l y this panel decorated the front ofa c a s s o n e (a chest, often a wedding chest), an essential piece of furniture. It was used as a r e pository for the familys most precious possessions; often it held the brides trousseau, made up of linens and other textiles. T he panels on a cassone w er e designed to gi v e pleasure and, indirectl y to educate. T he subjects are usually biblical, classical, m ythological, or historical, and many feature female protagonists. It is easy to visualize small c h i l d r en sitting on the floor looking at the painted tales; the settings and costumes w e r e f a m i l i a r so they easily could imagine themselves in the scene, while the adults retold the stories that illustrated family and civic values. 29

T his painting tells the story of the birth of the V irgin, which is found in the A pocrypha Fra Car n e vale integrated the event, a popular subject in f i f t e e n t h c e n t u r y Italian p a i n t i n g into rituals of aristocratic daily life. He ag r eed with Alberti, who wrote that the intention of narrati v e painting was to edify and to delight the eye. T he first thing that gi v es pleasure in a narrati v e is a plentiful variety Ele g ant ladies meet and g r eet each other in front of a palazz o as men return from a hunt. T he c lothes are the latest fifteenth-century fashion. T he placement of the figures and the colors of their outfits create a rhythmical pattern that draws the view e r s eye into the pictorial space For example, the three women in the left f or egr ound are placed on a diagonal axis that directs the viewers eye into the palazzo where the exterior wall has been remo v ed. T his directional thrust is enhanced by the use of the color blue. Tw o of the women are dressed in blue and v arying shades of r ed; one holds a childs hand. Follow the diagonal axis into the palazzo, where two more women, one dressed in blue, wash the infant Mar y while two other women sit and wait to s w addle her .T he diagonal thrust continues into the back room where Anne, Marys mother, is resting in bed, sur r ounded by attendants who car r y trays of f ood; one woman sits on the edge of the bed looking out at the scene. T he color blue in the men s mantles and the sky lead the viewers eye into the distance, where farmers plow the fields and boats sail the ocean. T he tempera colors are brilliant, shar p and opaque. T he ar c hitecture, an ideal Italian R enaissance palazzo, pr o vides the structure that unifies the varied activities. Flanked by columns and pilasters, the ar c hes define the rooms and portico and separate the men s and women s r ealms. T he faade of the building is decorated with ar c hitectural details inspired by classical r eliefs such as the garlands and putti (winged heads) on the entablature and the medallions with e a g les in the spandrels. On the second story are panels illustrating f i g u r es from c l a s s i c a l m y t h o l o g y.T he reliefs are rendered in a technique called grisaille which uses shades of g ray to r ender the ef f ect of r elief .T his technique was adopted from northern painting F ra Carne v ale has emplo y ed linear one-point perspecti ve to construct the space; he plotted and incised the lines into the gesso before he started to paint this panel. T he ar c hitectural elements are used to plot the con v erging lines, which meet at the v anishing point ; the figures and objects diminish in size as they mo v e closer to the vanishing point and farther from the viewer .T o find the vanishing point, let your eye follow and extend the lines made by the meeting of the floor and the walls of the palazzo. No w follow the imaginary lines made by joining the top edge of the capitals, the tw o cornices on the entablatur e and the line of birds in the sky. All these lines con v er g e at the vanishing point, on the outer left edge, a little abo v e the horizon line ( P 12) T his painting is a good example of southern Renaissance painting. It uses linear one-point perspecti v e; it reflects interest in classical ar c hitecture, figurati v e sculpture, and literary texts; and it sets a religious narrati v e in a contemporary (fifteenth-century) secular setting. As Alberti said, The story that you can praise and admire will be the one that holds an y one who sees it, educated or uneducated, with pleasure and emotion. 31 F R A C A R N E VA L E S LIDE 8

T he Gubbio studiolo (small study) consists of a series of w ooden intarsia panels installed in such a w a y as to r e plicate their original location in the Ducal Palace in Gubbio, a small hill town in Umbria. T he patron of the Gubbio studiolo w as Federico da Montefeltro (1422 1482), duke of Urbino .T he studiolo w as probab l y created by Giuliano da Maiano (143290), who also was r e s p o n s i b le for impor t a n t intarsia works in the Cathedral of Florence. Like many artists in f ifteenth-century Florence, Giuliano worked along with se v eral other artists, often family members, in a workshop where each artist ma y ha v e had a slightly dif f erent expertise. T his division of labor allo w ed se v eral commissions to be carried out at the same time. T he studiolo at the Metropolitan, one of the most important works of R enaissance art in North America, should be appr o a c hed from several points of v i e w including its materials and tec h n i q u e social and historical context, and imager y. M A T E R I A L S A N D T E C H N I QU E T he art of w ood intarsia was practiced long before the fifteenth century in Ital y but it was at this time that the art form reached its height. Craftsmen shaped the mosaic of appr o ximatel y fiv e-millimeter-thick (less than one-quarter-inch) sections of w ood with a variety of saws, planes, adzes, chisels, and kni v es. Many kinds of w ood were used in fifteenth-centur y F l o re n t i n e intarsia, including walnut, pear, c h e r ry, maple, and oak. The artisans looked for naturalv ariations in color and texture to achie v e the desired ef f ects, since no paint or pigment was used. S O C I A L A N D H I S TO R I C A L C O N T E X T Duke Federico was truly a Renaissance individualin the sense in which we use the term toda y. He was a brilliant military leader and an intellectual who successfully combined the values of the acti v e and contemplati v e life. As a condottier e or mercenary general, he fought for all of the major po w ers on the Italian peninsula: Milan, Florence, Naples, V enice, and the Papal States. As a patron ofthe arts, he commissioned many works of a r t and arc h i t e c t u r e, w h i c h are lasting monuments to his vision, as is this, his pri v ate studiolo As one room within the lar g er palace, the Gubbio studiolo w as decorated with a series of images that reflected its specific function as well as the identity of its patron. T he room is trapezoidal, w hich allo w ed it to fit into its original location; in the Museum, the original light source has been simulated. The walls are entir e l y cov e r ed with intarsia panels depicting a series of i l l u s i o n i s t i c cupboards and shelves filled with various objects. A Latin inscription in gold lettering on a blue bac k g round celebrates the virtues of k n ow l e d g e. A series of t r ompe lo e i l or illusionistic, benches lines the lo w er zone of the walls. A richl y cof f ered ceiling completes the room. 33 T H E L I B E R A L A R T S S T U D I O L O F RO M T H E D U C A L P A L AC E AT G U B B I O S LIDE 9

35 I M AG E R Y T he many objects depicted on the shelves allude to the virtues and honors of Duke Federico T aken as a whole, they illustrate the se v en liberal arts, the backbone of late-medie v al and R enaissance education, which were divided into two parts, the trivium (rhetoric, grammar, and dialectic) and the quadrivium (astronom y geometr y music, and arithmetic). T he arts of music, f or example, are r e presented by the many dif f erent musical instruments, including an or g an, f iddle, and se v eral types of lutes. T he arts of mathematics and geometry are r e presented b y measuring instruments, such as the compass, the square, and the hour g lass. Astronomy is re presented by the armillary sphere, and rhetoric, grammar, and dialectic by the many books, a number of w hich are open to display pages with writing. A series of paintings of w omen r e pr esenting these liberal arts, now in other museums, once decorated the upper zone ofthe s t u d i o l o r einforcing the message of the intarsia panels. In addition to these objects, we find a number of pieces of armor, sug g esting the military pr ow ess of Duke Federico P ersonal devices, including coats of arms underscore his o wnership of the room. One of the dukes emblems was the ermine, a small mammal that stood for innocence and puri ty, and it was also the symbol of the chi v alric Order of the Ermine. It is depicted here on a piece of mud with the w o r ds non mai meaning n e v e r ,alluding to the beliefthat the animal pr e fe r red death to soiling its white coat. Another personal emblem ofthe duke was the ostrich holding an arrowhead in its beak. The assertion written in German, I can sw a l l o w a big ir o n alludes to the duk e s r e s i s t a n c e to ad v ersity .T he duke also included a garter, r e presenting his membership in the prestigious English Order of the Garter. Other images in the room, such as the par r ot in a cage, wer e included as status symbols, since the par r ot was an e x otic bird that came from distant lands. P E R S P E C T I V E P erhaps the most striking aspect of the Gubbio studiolo is the use of linear perspecti v e, along with light and shado w to create convincing r e presentations of the many objects depicted and, in general, the illusion of t h r ee-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surfacethe def i n i t i o n of perspecti v e. Duke Federico maintained close ties with the intellectual world of Florence, w hich was the center of humanistic studies, and he would ha v e been keen on r e plicating the latest techniques of perspecti v e design. One of his best friends was Leon Battista Alberti, who is credited, as we ha v e already read (See p. 12), with one of the first formulations of linear perspecti v e. T H E M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S T HOUGHTS : Renaissance individual; family and home; society; lar g er world; light and shade, wood intarsia C OMPARE :S LIDES 5, 23 (fame and prestige); S LIDE 6 ( trompe loeil ); S LIDE 17 (the Renaissance man) S OURCE M A TERIALS : Humanist: Marsilio Ficino, p. 79; Family: Discourse b y Gio v anni della Casa, p. 90 L ESSON P LANS : Alle g or y p. 171; Linear One-Point Perspecti v e, p. 135

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36 D ETAIL : MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS D ETAIL : BIRD IN CAGE D ETAIL : ARMOR F OR THE T EACHER : More images of the studiolo are found in the special CD-ROM that is included in the pac k et.

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W ere it not for the wings on the backs of three figures in this painting, we might for a moment think this was a r eg al domestic scene inside a richly appointed home. A gr oup of people cluster together. A window on the upper left lets in soft light from abo v e, sumptuous textures adorn fabrics, floor, and objects e v erywhere. T he colors are a feast for the eye. Great attention has been paid to e v er ything, from the smallest of details to the or g anization of the room itself Further visual in v estigation r ev eals, in addition to wings, the presence of other preternatural elements, most notab l y a ho v ering bird in a radiant cir c le, the scepter in the hand of the figure on the left, and a bare to e protruding from the hem of the richly brocaded robe on the winged f igure we can call an angel. Light from a source we cannot see falls on the hands and faces of the figures. It is the wings and encir c led do v e, along with the presence of other religious symbols in the guise of simple household objects, that tell us we are witnessing a sacred scene. T his is the moment of the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel, identified here by his wings, scepter and extraordinary robe, appears to Mary to tell her she is with child. T his is one of the funda mental e v ents of Christianity, described in the New T estament (Luke 1:26), and it is the prelude to the redemption of humankind through Christ. Notice the serene atmosphere that Hans Memling has created for the moment of this stor y as Mary quietly accepts the news with grace and gentle happiness. Tw o small angels attend to her with consideration and respect. T his annunciation takes place in the room of a w e l l a p p o i n t e d home not unlike, perhaps, that ofthe pious person who might originally ha v e pur c hased this painting for private devotional use. W i n d o w, fur n i t u r e, floor tiles, and bed are all described in v e r y specific detail. Memlings use ofcolor is lush and harmonious. The four f i g u r es are c o n n e c t e d b y the use of b lues and la v enders, and Marys blue cloak and the flow of the angels r obes tie the figures to the frontal plane. T he angel Gabriel wears a rich brocade of r ed and gold. Notice how these colors are r e peated, the same as that of the bed, uniting for egr ound and bac kgr ound in a single stroke of color that alludes perhaps to the blood ofthe Passion. Mar y s hand points to the open book, as ifto sugg e s t that this is the fulfillment of the prophesies. Other symbols in the painting would ha v e been understood by viewers of the period, such as the lilies that are Marys symbol, and the brass candlestick and the half-filled glass bottle that r e present the V irgin in her glor y Just as Memling used these simple objects as symbols of something much g r eater, so he sug g ested hea v enly meaning in his use of light, especially the presence of dual light sources. In this w ay we can understand the presence of the natural light of this world coming in through the windo w and the light of God radiating onto the figures. The space described in this painting suggests depth and volume, but it does not f o l l o w the mathematical perspective system fav o r ed by Renaissance artists in southern Europe. T h e r e l a t i o n s h i p of objects to the space in which they reside is designated close and far b y ov erlapping and by the use of lights and darks, rather than by a unified perspecti v al r elationship to a vanishing point. Here, the eye mo v es in and around each object, similar to the wa y the eye mo v es as it looks into a room. Eac h thing then is disco v ered and considered in 37 H A N S M E M L I N G S LIDE 10

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S LIDE 10 A NNUNCIATION 1482 H ANS M EMLING Netherlandish, acti v e by 1465d. 1494 Oil on wood; 32 x 21 5/8 in. R obert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.113) turn, and each has a position in the room as we experience it. It has been said that in souther n Europe, the eye sees the room from a fixed point; in the North, the room is fixed and the ey e mo v es freely about the space. A D D I T I O NA L I N F O R M AT I O N Hans Memling may have begun to paint in Ger m a n y, w h e r e he was born, but it is v e r y likely t h a t he studied with Rogier van der W e y den in Brussels. By the 1470s, Memling is listed in the town r e c o r ds of B ru g es as its leading painter and one ofits wealthiest citizens. He was v e r y much in demand as a portrait painter especially in the Italian community of Bruges. T he Metropolitan Museum owns the portraits of T ommaso Portinari, the manager of the Bruges branch of the Medici banking empire, and his wife Maria Maddalena Baroncelli (MMA 14.40.626 and MMA 14.40.627). Memling also was known for his de v otional paintings. T H E M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S T HOUGHTS : F amily and home; de v otional; New T estament narrati v e; symbols; perspecti v e; color; light and shade; oil paint C OMPARE :S LIDES 1, 8 (religious narrati v e); S LIDES 4, 8 (northern and southern European perspecti v e; oil versus tempera paint); S LIDES 14, 19 (de v otional) L ESSON P LAN : Overlapping Shapes, p. 129; T he Story in Art, Part II, p. 153 38

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L eonardo da V incis curiosity led him to study and sketch such di v erse subjects as human and animal anatomy; the way r o c ks are coated by running w a t e r ; and the motion of p l a n e t s and stars. He drew designs for forts, theater sets, equestrian statues, f l ying machines, and w ar devices. Of course, he is known as the painter of such g r eat works as the Last Supper in Milan and the Mona Lisa He filled hundreds of n o t e books with inter p r etations ofhis direct e x p e r i e n c e s Leonardo belie v ed in the importance of obser v ation; he writes, for example, the eye, which is called the window of the soul, is the principal means by which the central sense can most completely and abundantly appreciate the infinite works of nature. He continues, O painter! you cannot be a good one if y ou are not the uni v ersal master of re presenting b y y our art e v ery kind of f orm produced by nature. T his is a drawing of Ursus arctus a br o wn bear then common in the Alps north of Milan. T he bears distinguishing trait is the ruf f of hair that g ro ws through the matted fur around its nec k and shoulders during the summer months. T his drawing allows the viewer to experience the bears mo v ements as well as see the shape of the body and the texture of the fur. Scholars belie ve that Leonardo probab l y obser v ed a bear in captivity and that he may ha v e studied the fur and skin of a dissected bear Leonardo follo w ed the bears mo v ements. He sketched the bears hind legs se v eral times, slightly varying their placement each time. T he front right leg is lifted, while the left, the weight-bearing le g rests firmly on the ground. A single line describes the contour ofthe back, and re p e a t e d lines describe the head and belly of the bear. Leonardo focused on the anatomical structure of a particular pa w distinguishing the muscles and c laws. He notes that he will discourse of the hands of each animal to show in what w a y they vary; as in the bear which has the ligatures of the toes joined abo ve the inste p. T his is a silverpoint drawing. For silverpoint, the paper first must be coated with an opaque pigment; in this case a mixture of pulverized bone and glue gi v es the paper its light-buf f color Leonardo used the tip of a thin silver stylus or wire to make the drawing; the point deposits a la y er of silver that e v entually tarnishes. T he fine gray line resembles the line made with a har d g raphite pencil, but silverpoint lines cannot be erased. T he only w a y to shade a silverpoint or metalpoint drawing is to build up the tones b y hatching Leonardo used short r e peated cur v ed strokes to describe the texture of the ruf f and long diagonal lines to create the volume of the bears broad bod y. T he bear is drawn o v er a sketch of a pr e gnant woman. Scholars belie v e that Leonardo may ha ve drawn the female figure on the untreated paper; then, because paper was scarce and expensi v e, he coated its surface and reused it. Leonardos genius was recognized and appreciated in his lifetime. Obser v ers described him as handsome, gracious, and gentlemanl y with interests and activities so wide-ranging that it was dif f icult for him to finish a project. He was born in V inci, a small town near Florence. His L E O NA R D O DA V I N C I 39 S LIDE 11

O riginall y this life-size sculpture of Adam stood in a niche on the resplendent tomb that T ullio Lombardo made for the Dog e Andrea V endramin. T his funerary monument, r e s e m b ling a Roman triumphal arch, is in the c h u r ch ofSanti Giovanni e Paolo in V e n i c e T he sculpture was intended to be seen from the front and sides. Adam contemplates the apple in his left hand, the cause of his downfall, as his right hand rests delicately on a broken branch, and the serpent appears at the bottom of the tree trunk decorated with i vy .T he smooth white marble and subtle modeling of the muscles recall the serenity of G r eek classical sculpture. His posture is a v e r s i o n of the classical contrapposto pose found in most Renaissance figures. T he slight twist raises his right hip slightly higher than the left, and his left shoulder higher than the right. T his nude Adam resembles a beautiful pagan god, rather than the nakedAdam whose fig leaf he wears, as described in Genesis 3:7: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig lea v es together and made themselves aprons. Wh y Adam for a Christian funeral monument? W ith Adam and Eves estrangement from God, mortalitydeath and sinare introduced to humanity: In the s w eat of y our face you shall eat bread till you return to the g r ound, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust y ou shall return (Genesis 3:19). While this statue re p r esents the Christian tradition, it also encapsulates the Renaissance c l a s s i c a l belief in man s capacity to make whate v er he desired of himself. As the Florentine philosopher Pico della Mirandola stated in 1486 in his Or a tion on the Dignity of Man (Or a tio de hominis dignitate) : Neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor function peculiar to thyself ha v e w e gi v en thee, Adam. T hou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in whose hand W e ha v e placed thee, shalt ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature (Cassirer Kristeller, and Randall Jr., R enaissance Philosophy pp. 224). The Lombardo f a m i l y, Pietro and his sons Antonio and T u l l i o w e r e sculptors of L o m b a r d origin w ho settled in V enice, where they designed, built, and car v ed many monuments reflecting their admiration of c lassical ar c hitecture, ornament, and sculpture. T U L L I O L O M BA R D O 41 S LIDE 12

A lbrecht Drer signed his full name and authorship in Latin, ALBERTUS DRER NORICUS F A CIEB A T 1504, in a high and prominent place, o v erlooking the scene he c r eated ofAdam and Eve in the Garden ofEden. The subject of this highly celebrated engraving f ills the frame. Adam and Eve, w earing only lea v es, stand before the dark and dense forest that is Drers vision of the Garden of Eden. Drer was an acute obser v er and transcriber of the natural world, and he rendered objects and people with the closest possible atten tion to their form and character .W hat is d i f ficult for modern ey e s to discern, howev e r is the symbolic aspect of this bravura display of the details of the natural world. T his is the moment before the Fall. T he serpent gi v es Eve the apple, Adam stands ready to recei v e it. He holds the branch of an ash tree, the symbol of the Tr ee of Life. A fig tree stands between Adam and Eve, pr o viding the l e a ves that cover her, but, curiously, also bears apples, suggesting that it is also the Tree of K n ow l e d g e with its forbidden fruit. Among the animals we discover in the f o l i a g e, four are e s p e c i a l l y significant: the cat, ox, rabbit, and elk, who collecti v ely r e present the four tempera ments of man that are unleashed by the e v ents in the story of Adam and Eve. Other details invite bemused speculation: Does Adam step on the outstretched tail of a mouse? Has the cat f allen asleep between mouse, rabbit, and bird abo v e? Does the ram refer to the story of Abraham and Isaac, or does it sit behind the tree as a symbol of the future Christ? Is the still ness of the scene, like the calm before the storm, sug g esti v e of imminent tragedy? Does the goat on the high crag in the backg r ound peer into an abyss? So f i n e l y r e n d e r ed are the te x t u r es and so fully rounded are the dimensions that we almost f o r g e t that there is no color in this work of art. Its story is e v ocati v e and imaginati v e and rendered with technical brillianc y while the figures ha v e been rendered in accordance with principles of human proportion that Drer str ov e to articulate and write about. F r om his writings on human proportions in Aesthetic Excursus we ha v e his thoughts: I hold that the more near l y and accurately a man is made to resemble man, so much better will the work be. If the best parts, chosen from many well-formed men, are fitly united in one figure, it will be worthy of praise. T he Creator f ashioned men once and for all as they must be, and I hold that the perfection of f orm and beauty is contained in the sum of all men. Drer tra v eled from Germany to Italy in 1494, ten years before this engraving was made, and he returned a second time shortly after its publication. It is generally understood that in his tra v els Drer sought knowledge of anatomical proportions as embodied in classical works of art. As we see in this beautiful engraving and in his writing, his achie v ement was to bring together the ideas of r eligious faith, classical aesthetics, and impeccable artistr y. A L B R E C H T D R E R 43 S LIDE 13

A ccording to Giorgio V asari, this [ altarpiece ] is certainly a mar v elous and de v out work o f a rt The Madonna (Mary), the Christ Child, and the infant John the Baptist occupy the middle of the panel and are flanked by four saints. T he scene is set against a distant landscape. Mary sits on the throne with Christ on her lap; she looks down at Saint John. He in turn looks up at Christ, who responds with the hand sign for benediction. T he three f igures fit into an equilateral triangle, the apex of w hich is Marys halo God the Father sends his blessing from the center ofthe l u n e t t e re p e a t i n g the Childs gesture. His head is the apex of a second triangle that frames the entire composition in the main panel. T he triangle is a stable shape as well as being the Christian symbol for the T rinity T he composition of the altarpiece is symmetrical, with God the Father and Mary along the v ertical axis, and the angels, Christ, John, and the other saints distributed on either side. T he saints g estures pr o vide a sense of mo v ement as they are virtually mir r or images of e a c h other, and their gazes cross the holy scene from upper left to lower right. For e x a m p l e Saint Peter, on the lo w er left, looks out to w ard the viewer. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, standing behind and abo v e him, looks at the Christ child. On the lo w er right, Saint Paul, like Saint Catherine, looks to w ard the g r oup in the middle of the panel, as Saint Cecilia, abo v e and behind him, looks out to w ard the viewer .T his well-balanced and harmonious plan deri v es from classical geometric propositions on proportions. In Christian thought, the manifestation of a logical system stands f or divine intention. T hus, the geometric configurations illuminate the spiritual significance of this de v otional image that was designed to inspire pra y er and meditation. The sixteenth-century c h u r c h g oing public was familiar with the lives ofthe saints, whose stories they often heard at Mass. Artists depicted the saints with specific objects, called attributes, that allude to their stories and ther eb y allo w ed the faithful to identify them. Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles, is shown holding his attribute, the keys to hea v en. Jesus named him Peter w hich means rock, to signify that he would be the foundation upon which the Chur c h would be built. Saint Paul holds an open Bible, referring to his writing of the Epistles. Saint Catherine of Alexandria holds a palm leaf, a symbol of martyrdom, and her right hand rests upon a wheel. According to Christian le g end, she was a noblewoman of gr eat learning .W hen she refused to w orship idols, the emperor had her tortured on a spiked wheel, then beheaded. Saint Cecilia also holds a palm leaf and a book. She was a Roman Christian of the second or third centur y w ho was beheaded when she refused to worship the Roman gods. She is the patron saint of music and musicians. Sometimes specific colors also ha v e symbolic meaning. For example, Mar y t r a d i t i o n a l l y wears a mantle ofblue, a symbol ofthe sky and heaven. In this painting the azurite b lue pigment has turned black with time. A D D I T I O NA L I N F O R M AT I O N Raphael be g an his studies with his father, a pr o vincial painter in the court of F ederico da Montefeltro in Urbino. Raphael assimilated what he could use from many artists and still r etained his originality and dee p i n t e r est in classical f o r m. In Rome, Raphael became one of t h e p r i n c i p a l artists to work for Pope Julius II. R A P H A E L 45 S LIDE 14

A t first glance, this unusual painting seems chaotic, full of action and violence. Satyrs (half-man, half-goat) and centaurs (half-man, half-horse) inter m i n g le with men w e a r i n g loincloths and fur capes that recall the lionskin w o r n by H e r cules. A f i r e blazes in the f o r est while people and wild animals f l e e o n l y to be ambushed by hunters (see S L I D E 1 5 A ) A reddish-yellow glo w illuminates the distant landscape. T he painting is divided vertically b y two trees that lead the viewers eye into the landscape in two directions. T he trunks of the two trees frame a figure holding or strangling a wild boar. A small monkeylike creature hangs on to the right tree trunk. On the right side, Piero placed trees on a diagonal axis, creating the perspecti v e line that leads the viewers eye deep into the rocky, bar r en landscape. He reinforced this axis by aligning the f igures: a man crouched on a fast-moving horse, two centaurs in the distance, and a perfectl y f o re s h o r tened dead f i g u r e that lies on the ground with a large stick by its side. Further mov e m e n t is created by the two satyrs who come out of the lo w er right edge of the painting and head in the opposite direction, to w ard the paintings center. On the left side, men and satyrs work t o g ether to subdue the wild animals who are fighting among t h e m s e l v es. The faces of P i e ro s f i g u re s a r e e x p re s s i ve, and their bodies are active and f l ex i bl e V asari describes the young Piero as by nature a most lofty spirit, and he was very strange, and dif f erent in fancy from other youths. Like Leonardo da V inci, Piero belie v ed in o b s e r ving and i n v e s t i g ating all kinds ofnatural phenomena. Vasari says he shows a cer t a i n subtlety in the inv e s t i g ation ofsome ofthe deepest and most subtle secrets of N a t u r e. T his panel is part of a series: the Metropolitan Museum owns a second panel, T he Return from the Hunt and the third, T he Forest Fir e is at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In this series Piero e x p l o r ed contemporary and classical notions about the beginning of c iv i l i z a t i o n the e v olution o f humanity from a primitive, feral state to one ofr e l a t i ve civilization. In this panel, the b l a z i n g f ire may allude to a popular idea, originally expressed by the Roman ar c hitect V itruvius (first centur y B.C. ) and widely quoted in the Renaissance, that the disco v ery of f ire led to the in v en tion of human speech, social units, and d w ellings, and thus, ultimatel y to civilization: In the olden days men were born like wild beasts in woods and ca v es and grov es, and k e pt ali v e by eating raw food. Somewhere, meanwhile, the closegrown trees, tossed by storms and winds, and r u b bing their branches tog e t h e r caught fire. T errified by the flames, those who were near the spot fled. W hen the storm subsided, they drew near, and since they noticed how pleasant to their bodies was the warmth of the fire. sounds were breathed forth T hen, giving names to things more fr e q u e n t l y used, they began to speak because o f this f o r tuitous event V itruvius, De Ar c hitectura Libri Decem II Erwin Panofsky The Ear l y History of Man, T he W arburg Journal vol. 1, (1937), p. 12. P I E R O D I C O S I M O 47 S LIDE 15

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A D D I T I O NA L I N F O R M AT I O N A c c o r ding to Vasari, the Florentine wool merchant Francesco Pugliese commissioned Piero to paint a series ofpanels that f o r med a cycle of d i verse stories ofsmall f i g u re s This may be one o f the panels. Piero, the son ofa Florentine goldsmith, was apprenticed as a young boy to the painter Cosimo Rosselli, and that is why he is known as Piero di Cosimo. Vasari says that Pier o s b e h a vior became eccentric after his teac h e r s death: He cared nothing for his own comf o r t, and reduced himself to eating [only] boiled e g gs, which, in order to sa v e firing, he cooked when he was boiling his g lue, and not six or eight at a time, but in [the] fifties; and keeping them in a basket he would eat them one by one. He would ne v er ha v e his rooms s we pt, he would only eat when hunger came to him, and he would not let his garden be worked. He could not bear the crying of c hildren, the coughing of men, the sound of bells, and the chanting of friars (Vasari, Lives pp. 650). T H E M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S T HOUGHTS : Individual; society; secular narrati v e; spirit of inquiry and obser v ation; c lassical texts C OMPARE :S LIDES 18, 25, 29 (landscape and perspecti v e); S LIDES 2, 18, 24, 25, and Battle of the Naked Men p. 93 (human figure); S LIDES 11, 13 (animals); S LIDES 13, 25 (tree) S OURCE M A TERIAL : Humanist: Pico della Mirandola, p. 81 L ESSON P LANS : Gesture, p. 125; T he Story in Art, Part II, p. 153; P o etic Forms, p. 159; AW riting Activity, p. 157 48 S LIDE 15, 15 A A H U N T I N G S C E N E 1505 P IER O DI C OSIMO (P IER O DI L ORENZO ) Florentine, 1462 T empera and oil on wood; 27 3/4 x 66 3/4 Gift of R obert Gordon 1875 (75.7.2)

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T he drawings on this page are studies for the figure of the Lib y an Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel fr e s c o es. The sibyls w e r e the ancient Greek priestesses ofApollo whose pr o p h e c i e s w ere belie v ed by ear l y Christians to ha v e been inspired by God and to ha v e predicted the coming of J esus and the Apocalypse. This page of d r a wings allows the viewer to f o l l o w Mic h e l a n ge l o s artistic process and appr e c i a t e his masterful hand. In these anatomical drawings of a figure in motion, Michelangelo identified and highlighted specific shoulder muscles by using two functional notations, a round cir c le and a straight line. Compare the more finished study of the Sibyl with the drawing immediately below her raised left arm. In the latter, line describes the structure and dimension of the left shoulder, the for eshortened arm and hand, and the torso. In the more complete stud y, light and shadow carefully model the volume of the muscles, creating a feeling oftaut skin. In some areas, Mic h e l a n g elo r e n d e r ed the shado w s with a repetition ofclose parallel lines called h a t ch i n g : the closer the chalk lines, the darker the shado w In other places, he achie v ed the deep rich orange hue w e see by wetting the paper so that the soft chalk soaked into it. He used red chalk, a new medium at the time, because it is soft and it permits the r e s p o n s i ve, rapid drawing so necessary for quic k l y setting down thoughts and impressions. (Natural chalks are found in the earth; red chalk is a v ariety of r ed ochre.) T his page illustrates bent toes, a turned foot, foreshortened hands and fingers, and the Sibyl s profile. In addition, the more finished Sibyl looks back o v er her left shoulder while her arms and handswhich in the fresco hold a heavy bookreach forward. T his slight twist is an e xample of contrapposto a pose often used in the Renaissance. Like most artists at this time, Michelangelo probab l y drew from nude male models, usuall y young assistants in the master ar t i s t s w o r k s h o p Mic h e l a n ge l o s career epitomizes the R enaissance idea of the inspired artist-genius. Although he was an ar c hitect, sculptor, painter p o et, and engineer as well, he thought of h i m s e l f first as a sculptor and believed that the sculptor s h a r ed in something like divine power to m a k e man.He was a man ofdramatic contradictions. Impulsi v e and antagonistic to w ard his ri v als, he was deeply sympathetic and concerned about those close to him. He often opposed the demands ofhis patrons. He was born into a pr o m i n e n t Florentine family and as an adolescent was befriended by Lorenzo deMedici, a relationship that gave him the opportunity to copy that f a m i ly s classical sculptures and to study classical literature from their librar y He spent much of his career in Rome working for a succession of popes, i n c luding Julius II, for whom he fr e s c o ed the ceiling ofthe Sistine Chapel. It was unveiled in 1512. M I C H E L A N G E L O B U O NA R R O T I 49 S LIDE 16

A gr eat portrait painter can introduce the viewer to the subject as though we were in the same room, allo w ed to examine unabashedly the facial characteristics and sometimes the v e r y soul ofthe person. Hans Holbein was such a painter, r e n o wned for his portraits and his e x t r a o rd i n a r y insight into the character ofthose he painted. The intimacy and immediacy in this painting belie the v e r y small size ofthe original: the resolute strength, penetrating gaze, and fame ofthe sitter make this image appear larger than life. The subject is the great humanist Erasmus, whose appearance is known to us today through this and other portraits painted by Holbein. W ith meticulous skill and precise brushwork, Holbein recorded specific details of c haracter, such as Erasmuss stead y bene v olent g aze; the delicate wrinkles around his deep-set eyes, the sharp nose, and the soft folds of f lesh a r ound the determined mouth; his high cheekbones; a readiness to smile; the wispy gray strands of hair that curl around his hat; the slightly hollow cheeks and pronounced stub b le of his beard. Note the simple, sober costume and the aus tere backg r ound against which the figure sits, and the skill with w hich Holbein painted the fur, whose texture is silky to the eye. Erasmuss hands are clasped, as he faces a light source we cannot see, which illuminates him in a three-quarter view .T he dark hat and high collar of his robe frame his face. Holbein achie v ed the subtle tonal gradations on Erasmuss face by using newly de v eloped oil techniques. T he warm flesh tones and orange-red fur cuffs are particular l y ef f ecti v e against the cool tones of the rich blue backg r ound. T he small white rectangle in the upper-left corner is a later addition, with an inscription now illegible, perhaps the name of one of the owners. It has been said that the subject ofthis painting, Desiderius Erasmus, was the greatest humanist o f the Renaissance. W i d e l y traveled and pr o fo u n d l y learned, he was first and f o r emost a theologian who served as an inter m e d i a r y between the Greek scholars of a n t i q u i t y and the humanists of the Renaissance. His translation ofthe New Testament into Latin and his accompanying edition of the original Greek influenced the Protestant Reformation. A D D I T I O NA L I N F O R M AT I O N By 1515, Hans Holbein the Y ounger, the most talented scion of a family of painters, mo v ed from Germany to Basel, Switzerland. W hen the Reformation reached Basel in the last years of the 1520s, g r eat violence erupted. Pr o vided with a letter of r ecommendation from his friend and patron Erasmus, Holbein went to England, where he became a f av orite painter of the cour t of Henr y VIII. H A N S H O L B E I N T H E Y O U N G E R S LIDE 17 51

O ne does not need to look c l o s e l y to see that this painting depicts a dream or a m y t h o logical story. T h r ee women without clothes stand co y l y in the lower right cor n e r J u s t i n c hes away are two fully clothed and ar m o r ed men. The older one g e s t u r es and talks with the women, the y o u n g er man gazes, unb l i n k i n g as ifentranced, bewitched, or dr e a m i n g A horse pokes its head around a tree and appears to look us in the eye, almost with a wink. Cupid appears in a puff o f g r a y cloud above with a drawn bow and arrow. Dense, lush f o l i a g e cr e a t e s a kind of s t a g e set, separating the characters and their tale in the f o r egr o u n d f r om the harbor and mountains in the distant b a ck g r o u n d and revealing their story to us in the f o r eground. T his painting r e presents one of the g r eat myths, the story of the judgment of P aris, in whic h P aris must decide who among the goddesses V enus, Juno, and Miner v a is the most beautiful. The artist, Lucas Cranach, fr e q u e n t l y depicted m y t h o l o g i c a l and other classical subjects. Here he f o l l o ws a Ger m a n v e r s i o n of the tale, choosing a witty and titillating tone to do so. The men are depicted not in the costumes of a n t i q u i t y ,b ut in the costumes of German knights and northern medie v al mytholog y.T he women wear golden c hains and ele g ant hair ornaments and little else. In this v ersion, the sleeping Paris sees the three goddesses in a d r eam, transported to him by Mer c u r y. Imaginativ e l y and easily, Cranach tells us visually w h i c h o f the three is the winner. Not only is she pointing to Cupid with his bow and arrow in the u p p e r -left cor n e r but she is distinguished from the others by her red and g r a y plumed hat, m a t c hing the color and feathers on P a r i s s costume. It is Venus, the goddess of l o ve, and it is she who will r e c e i ve the prize, w h i c h in this version ofthe story is the glass orb held by Mer c u r y. T he distant scene of w ater, harbor, mountains, castles, and boats displays Cranachs skill as a landscapist; in his ear l y years as a painter he studied the northern landscape in sear c h of old f orests and romantic vistas. T he landscape fades to silvery blue in the backg r ound, following the color gradations of atmospheric perspecti v e. T o this he added a romanticized Gothic city and castled rocks, achieving a panoramic view that makes the scene complete. C r a n a c h was a great eng r a ver and designer ofwoodcuts as well as a painter, and his versatility in these diff e r ent media is evident in The Judgment ofP a r i s The surface is smooth, and no v i s i b le br u s h w ork disrupts the brilliant illusion ofthis dream. Note the cool, classical idealizing o f the female nudes, showing their sensual outlines from a variety ofviewpoints. In contrast is the h i g h l y detailed rendering of a r mor on the two men. The f o l i a g e behind is beautifully delineated, e a c h leafappearing to be illuminated with light so as to suggest the heightened reality ofa dr e a m l i k e state. L U C A S C R A N A C H T H E E L D E R 53 S LIDE 18

In this painting, the Christ Child is the central figure. Behind him, Joseph looks directlyat the viewer, while Mary and the young John the Baptist look pensively at Christ, who seems oblivious to their concern and the importance ofthe moment. He is portrayed as a gleeful child who grabs the globe as ifit was a toy, his gesture encircled by the mirroring poses ofSaint John and Mary. The line oftheir arms unites the three and creates a circle, as well as the sculptural space the figures inhabit. The four figures are set against an olive green background. The use of oil paint allowed Andrea to model the volume ofthe figures subtly with light and shade. His figures appear lifelike; he has done what Leon Battista Alberti suggests: "clothe[d] the bones and muscles [ofthe human figure] with flesh and skin."Light falls on Saint John's right shoulder but illuminates only a small patch on the top ofJoseph's head; Mary and Christ are in full light, and a dark shadow describes the space behind Christ's legs. The shadow and the swath ofvibrant red and blue cloth intensify the feeling ofan inner circle. As humble spectators wethe viewer and Josephobserve the scene from the outside. The generous quantity ofred and blue silk fabric casually draped on the table attracts the viewer's eye, as do the violet ofMary's dress and her yellow sleeve. The blue fabric wraps around Mary, and a tiny strip emerges on her left cuff, perhaps to remind the viewer ofher traditional blue mantle, a symbol ofher heavenly status. The red cloth, a symbol ofthe Passion, links John and Christ. In the lower left corner ofthe painting, a small wooden cross, also a symbol ofthe Passion, contrasts with the bronze cross on top ofthe globe, a symbol ofthe established Church and its dominion. The composition, the emphatic use oflight, and the choice ofsymbolic colors and objects reveal the mystical themes and spiritual function ofthis devotional painting. Sarto in Italian means "tailor"Andrea was the son ofa tailor. He was born in and lived most ofhis life in Florence. At the age ofseven he went to work in a goldsmith shop, where Vasari says he gained an appreciation for precise detail. He studied painting with Piero di Cosimo, and Giorgio Vasari, the great Florentine biographer and painter, became his student. Vasari wrote of Andrea, "In [his] single person, nature and art demonstrated all that painting can achieve by means ofdraughtsmanship, colouring, and invention. His figures, however, for all their simplicity and purity, are well conceived, free from errors, and absolutely perfect in every respect"(Vasari, Lives p. 823). After Michaelangelo and Raphael left Florence, Andrea was considered the city's leading painter.ANDREADELSARTO55SLIDE19

T his bowl ( s c o d e l l a ) and its cover ( t a gl i e r e ) w e r e part ofa matching set presented to a mother as a gift upon the birth of a child, perhaps to ser v e a celebratory and healthful broth. Although no complete sets ha v e survi v ed intact, a drawing in a mid-sixteenth-centur y treatise on the arts of the potter implies that these sets originally comprised f iv e pieces. In addi tion to the bowl and its co v er there would ha v e been a drinking cup, a saltcellar, and a lid to enclose all the parts. T he two pieces are made of tin-glazed earthenware called majolica Man y types of majolica w are were produced in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for both practical and ceremonial purposes. Sixteenth-century ad v ances in glazing and firing techniques made possible the painting of complicated narrati v es in brilliant and subtle colors. T his set with its beautifully painted narrati v es was costly and would ha v e been considered a luxury item. T he bowl rests on a high stem. On opposite sides of the bowl are two medallions that contain unidentified coats of arms probab l y belonging to the mother and father. As on Lorenzo de M e d i c i s birth tray, the coats of a r ms celebrate birth as a dynastic event. Two auspicious inscriptions address the mother and child; the one on the rim of the bowl reads: God with his hands created you so fair that now to mortal eyes you appear more precious than any Oriental g e m The other, on the inside ofthe cov e r reads: Vi r tue, beauty, and brav e r y united in a sing l e personit is as if an enormous sea flo w ed into a little brook. The three episodes that decorate this set are from classical Roman literature. They illustrate three important virtues: filial de v otion ( pietas ), lo v ers lo y alty ( f ides ), and courage ( vertu ). T he inside of the bowl depicts Aeneas rescuing his father, Anchises, from Tro y as it burns, a scene from V irgil s Aeneid On the outside of the co v er of the bowl, we find a scene from Ovid s Metamorphoses: in a rocky landscape with a sarcoph agus (stone cof f in) and tree to the left, and a village and mountains in the distance, two lo v ers p l a y out their fate. Pyramus lies dead on the ground, b l e e d i n g w hile his belo v ed T hisbe stands o v er him, about to f all on her lo v ers s w ord and complete their tragic double suicide. (Ovids tale also inspired the death scene in Shakespeare s R omeo and J uliet and the play-within-a-play in his Midsummer N i g h t s Dr e a m .) On the inside ofthe cov e r Hercules slays the Nemean lion. The inscription He who wanted to conquer Paradise, he who slew Cacus, he who was possessed by the fury is found on the outside of the co v er, along with the passage that refers to the story of Aeneas and Anchises: He who made his w a y through fire like a salamander, with Julius [Ascanius] and Anchises. Although the use of c lassical imagery and language was widespread by the middle of the s i x teenth century, no assumptions could be made about peoples ability to recognize specif i c e pisodes from the stories. W hen they were combined in a somewhat random w ay as we see here, it was necessary to pr o vide inscriptions to identify them. B RO T H B O W L A N D C O V E R 57 S LIDE 20

W hat do we know about this man? He stands in an ar c hitecturally complex space and looks down at the view e r His posture, left hand on hip, displays his broad shoulder and fashionable clothes. His right hand marks his place in a well-thumbed book. His face and hands look chiseled, as does the purple stonelike table. T he shapes are clear ly defined by the strong contrast of light and shade. The muted color ofthe walls ofthis elegant, austere p a l a z z o pr o vides a foil for the rich blackness of the young man scostume. The v e rt i c a l a r chitectural lines that define the cor n e r echo his erect posture. T he appearance of this unidentified young man might recall the absolute aristocratic rule of Duke Cosimo I de Medici that follo w ed upon the failure of the Florentine r e public. He is well dressed, culti v ated, self-possessed, and aloof: it is thought that he was a writer or poet, a friend of Bronzinos and part of his literary cir c le a g e n t l e m a n who spent his time inventing and writing whimsical poems. The soft, r o u n d e d ev en squashed features of the gr otesques car v ed on the table and chair are in contrast with the shar p hard lines of the young man s face. Bronzino has created a visual conceit for this g entleman of witty conceits. The young man is wearing a f a s h i o n a b le and costly costume, called a l a n d s k n e ch t The outer g a rm e n t is slashed, so the inner one, in a subtly diff e r ent tone ofb l a c k, is exposed. This style was adopted from the worn and ra v aged look of Swiss mercenary soldiers g arments. Baldassare Castiglione (1478), who wrote the Book of the Courtier (Il Cortegiano 1528), the first book on etiquette in Europe, commented on clothes: I am always pleased when clothes tend to be sober the most ag r eeable color is black. Castiglione li v ed in Urbino, first at the court of Duke Guidobaldo, the son of F ederico of Montefelto (S LIDE 9) and then at the court of his successor Duke Francesco Maria Della R ov ere. Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of T uscan y was Bronzinos chief patron. Bronzino painted many portraits of the dukes family and became known for his ideal aristocratic portraits, but he also decorated the chambers of the dukes wife, Eleanora of T oledo, with a series of frescoes. B R O N Z I N O 59 S LIDE 21

S till pla y able after 450 years, this spinet embodies the spirit of Italian humanism in its sophistication and ele g ance. T he graceful pentagonal shape of the case conforms to the la y out of the strings stretched o v er the sound board, and the e xterior is richly decorated with panels of inlaid wood, mother-ofpearl, and tracer y La y ers of pierced par c hment re-create a Gothic r ose in the sound hole. Emblematic carvings brac k et the keyboard, and o v er the keys is a line of poetry that translates as Im rich in g old and rich in tone; if y ou lack virtue, lea v e me alone. T his poem contains a pun on the wor d virtue ( del buono ); the musician should ha v e personal goodness as well as musical skill. Spinets were popular among amateur musicians, especially women. In the Renaissance, the wor d amateur did not mean that the pla y er lac k ed professional competence, rather it implied that he or she was studying and performing for the lo v e of music, not for pa y In T he Book of the Courtier Baldassare Castiglione explains: So the courtier should turn to music as if it were merely a pastime of his and he is yielding to persuasion, and not in the presence of common people or a lar g e cr ow d. And although he may know and understand what he is doing, in this also I wish him to dissimulate the care and ef f ort that are necessary for an y competent perf o r mance, and he should let it seem as ifhe himselfthinks nothing of his accomplishment which, because of its e x cellence, he makes others think v ery highly of T he musician who commissioned this instrument was Eleanora della R ov ere (daughter of Isabella dEste), who g r ew up in a culti v ated court where both religious and secular music would h a ve been heard and played. Eleanora became duchess ofUrbino ( S L I D E 9 ) when she mar r i e d Francesco Maria della Rov e r e and set up her own court. Her commission of this instrument and the price paid are recorded inside the case, but the name of the maker is not known. Like the Flemish virginal, the spinet is a kind of harpsichord. T he strings are pluc k ed by a quill protruding sidew a ys from a jack that rises when a key is depressed. As the jack descends, the quill pi v ots to pr ev ent a second pluck, and a cloth damper silences the string. (See diagram in Lesson Plan: Compare and Contrast Tw o Keyboard Instruments, p. 205.) T he sound is light, bright, and crisp. Spinets and virginals are not capable of d ynamic changes; the force of the pla y ers fingers on the keys does not af f ect the loudness or softness of the sound. T he elaborate design, e x ecuted in a subtle and personal style, is both playful and urbane. It seems to ha v e been meant for the delight of the musician performing on the instrument rather than as an ostentatious display for an audience. T he g r otesque figures car v ed in the keyboar d b r a c ket can be seen only on close inspection, and the witty inscription above the keys is ob v i o u s l y intended for the musician s eyes onl y. P E N T A G O NA L S P I N E T 61 S LIDE 22

M edusas face, framed with flowing hair and wings, decorates the front of this helmet like a protecti v e talisman, a reminder of the hero Perseuss gift to the Greek g oddess Athena. Medusas penetrating up w ard gaze looks out at the viewer, perhaps not to turn to stone those who see her, as in the myth, b ut to bec k on us to examine closely this exquisitely embossed helmet. T he two snakes that coil abo v e her head lead our eye to the siren or mermaid whose graceful body f o r ms the top, or c o m b o f the helmet. A small c a rt o u ch e b e a r i n g f aint traces of g olddamascened decoration hangs from the snakes tails that cross below Medusas chin ( S LIDE 23 A ). T he siren s head, flowing hair, and outstretched arms reach o v er the front of the helmet, her hands grasping Medusas hair. She wears a skintight lor ica (Roman cuirass ). La y ered acanthus lea v es form her tail, which graceful l y splits in two at the back, creating a sinuous arc o v er a gr otesque leafy mask (not visible in the slides) that decorates the nape of the helmet. Each side of the tail e n d s in a thick bundle ofacanthus leaves, from w h i c h issues a wide leafy tendril that spirals t w i c e a r ound each side ofthe helmet and ends there in a f l o w e r Out ofthe f l o w e r s center emer g es a winged putto or eros, who grabs onto the tendril with one hand and the siren s hair with the other .T he design seems to g ro w or g anically from the siren at its center This b u rg o n e t or open-face helmet, was made from a single sheet ofsteel, w h i c h was hammer e d stretched, and shaped to form the deep bowl. It was then placed face down on a soft surface, such as warm pitch or a block of lead, and the design was carefully hammered, creating an embossed relief of v arying heights. It took g r eat skill to achie v e the very high relief of the cr o wning elementthe siren with her beautifully modeled torso .T he line of the design is crisp and often undercut along the edges to emphasize the plasticity of the forms; these finishing touches were delicately chiseled on the outside. T he deep rich br o wn color ofthe helmet r e c a l l s ancient bronze helmets, and the design ofthe ornament is similar to that found on classical R oman metal w ork, including parade helmets. This type ofdecoration, called gr o t e s q u e is derived from Roman wall paintings that w e r e ex c a v a t e d at this time, especially Ner o s Golden House. (Because these ex c a vations w e r e underground, they w e r e called g r o t t oe s and the ornamentation found there g r o t e s q u e s ) T h e s e wall decorations f e a t u r ed motifs characterized by imaginative, organic connections betw e e n d i s p a r a t e elements, including human f i g u r es, animals, insects, and birds, as well as m y t h o l o g i c a l and fantastic beasts and architectural and plant elements. These designs satisfied both the Renaissance reg a r d for the classical and the periods pleasure in fanciful ornament. Filippo N e groli, the maker ofthis helmet, created his own inter p r etation ofthis design, signing his name on the brow plate, a separate piece that snapped into place on the inside front ofthe bowl. The Negrolis ofMilan w e r e the leading practitioners ofembossed armor making and inter p re t e r s o f classical ornament. Filippo was g e n e r a l l y considered the most talented member of the family: c hroniclers praised his work as miraculous and deserving of immortal praise. His patrons included the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. F I L I P P O N E G RO L I 63 S LIDE 23

Jesus said, make the people sit down. Now, there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loa v e s and when he had gi v e n t h a n k s he distributed them to those who w e r e seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ( J ohn 6:1011) I n this lar g e, dramatic can v as, T intoretto shows the moment of the miracle. Our eye is drawn up to Christ, standing in the center, sur r ounded by the anonymous cr ow d. W ith his left hand he takes a loaf of bread from the young man s platter, and with the right he gi v es a loaf to Saint Andrew, one of the apostles. Andrews gesture leads the viewers eye to the ele g ant ladies and gentlemen seated on the grass, as if w aiting for a performance or a picnic to begin. T his painting was designed to hang abo v e eye le v el. T hus, no one looks out at us, though many seem to be facing our way, as ifwe, too, w e r e part ofthe crow d T he grass in the f or egr ound is in shado w and the rich colors of the silk mantles and head dresses embroidered with pearls guide the viewers gaze around and into the backg r ound w her e light falls on the multitude. T intoretto e v okes the anonymity of the cr ow d in the back with quick, r e peated, undif f erentiated brush strokes. T he figures in the front sit in small g r oups mir r oring eac h other; for example, the woman in front of Christ and to his right, playing with a child and dog, faces the viewer, while we see the bac k of another woman on his left. Such r ev ersals construct dynamic counterpoints that create a mood of e xpectanc y further emphasized b y the standing figures placed parallel to the sides of the can v as. T intorettos colors vibrate because he juxtaposed contrasting hues, such as Christs blue mantle and his red robe. T he artist made no attempt to hide either his brushstrokes or the grain of the can v as. In this painting ,T intoretto created a mood, rather than an illusionistic rendering of an actual place. T he combination of the well-balanced, harmonious composition, the dramatic activity created by the gestures and attitudes of the figures, and the painter l y strokes makes the miracle truer than life, perhaps r e producing the mystical a w e of the Gospels narrati v e. T I N TO R E T T O 65 S LIDE 24

F rom the smallest detail on the distant horizon to the imagined day in the life of t h e h a r v e s t e r s that unfolds before us, T he Harvester s is a g r eat scene paintingits rich and full anecdotal world tells us about e v er y day life and activity in sixteenth-century norther n Europe. T he f or egr ound is filled with simply dressed har v esters who rest, eat, drink, and cut bread, while others continue to work in the fields behind. T he har v ester who catches our ey e f irst sleeps under the tall tree in the cut fields, undisturbed by the nearby g r oup of w orkers or b y those trudging of f down the path in the fields. Houses appear in clusters in the distance, bec k oning us to look more closel y and in the far reaches of the painting is a harbor with boats. W a r m y e l l o w tones bring the f e s t i ve scene to center stage, while cooler tones create the atmospheric p e r s p e c t i ve that makes the harbor appear to be at a great distance. Our ability to see easilyw hat the har v esters are doing and to identify with their activities instantly brings this painting close to us. T ime is transcended by the uni v ersality of e xperience. T his is an in v enti v e work of art, carefully constructed and composed. Perhaps with some humorous intent, Pieter Brue g el uses the sleeping man to first catch our eye and then to lead us into and through the world of the painting. Note the shape of the man and in particular the shape made by his legs. T his triangle is re peated throughout: in the stacks of w heat, the opening into the f ields, the rooftops, some of the hats. Pathw a ys direct and invite us to wander into the distance in our imagination. T he warm and earth y colors assure us that this is a world where nature has pr o vided well for its inhabitants. T he white shirts of the har v esters guide our eyes to still other parts of the painting, and we make many disco v eries: a pair of birds f l ying low o v er the field, workers car r ying shea v es of w heat, people moving along the roads e v erywhere. T he viewer has the simultaneous sensation of being an onlooker and a tra v eler into the deep space. T his in v estigation into a bountiful landscape is visually connected through the presence in the frontal picture plane of the lar g e tree that runs from earth to sky, where it spreads its branches and connects near and far space. T he Harvester s is from a series of paintings describing what ha v e been called the Labors of the Months (in accord with the calendar c yc les of Books of Hours), in which the o v erriding themes are the po w erful rhythms and c yc les of nature. Extant works from this series include T he Retur n of the Herd, T he Hunters in the Snow (Kunsthistorisches Museum, V ienna), and Haymaking (Roudnice Lobk o wicz collection, Nelahoze v es, Czech R e public). W ith a date of 1565, T he Harvester s is chronologically one of the last paintings to be examined h e r e in the context ofthe Renaissance. Note the great shifts in artistic sensibilities and inter e s t s from the earliest paintings of the northern Renaissance to this one. Pieter Brue g el tells a stor y f r om ev e r y d a y life, one that we still recognize. The realities ofthe harvest are inter p r eted without moralizing and without symbols; the landscape is lar g e by the standards of the norther n Renaissance paintings that preceded it. Br u e gel is inv e n t i ve not only in his use ofsecular subject matter but in visual style. Highly detailed in v estigations of f abrics, faces, and light gi v e w a y to b ro a d l y defined solid f o r ms that convey movement and acti v i t y but not the insistent ph y s i c a l i t y of the ear l y sixteenth centur y Brue g el describes with exuberance and humor a world that is P I E T E R B R U E G E L T H E E L D E R S LIDE 25 67

T o see this shining, r e fl e c t i ve, and luminous globe is to be reminded that we are part o f a celestial universe and a larger cosmic or d e r The silver globe, with its e x q u i s i t e l yr endered constellations, rests on a silver and brass P eg asus, the winged horse of c lassical mytholog y Renaissance interest in obser v ation and empirical understanding led to a more extensi v e charting of the earth, seas, skies, and stars than e v er before. T ime was understood to be a continuum, and clocks to be time-measuring machines whose use af f ected e v er y one. No longer were day-to-day activities deter mined solely by natural events. Events could be scheduled inde p e n d e n t o f the position of the sun, and human activities could be freed from natures basic rhythms. T his Celestial Globe with Clockwor k described in an ear l y se v enteenth-century in v entory of the H o l y Roman Emperor R u d o l f II (15521612), r e f lects the Renaissance interest in c l a s s i c a l m ythology while expressing the ad v ent of the modern age as it places the uni v erse before the viewer for study and contemplation. T he clockwork mo v ement rotates the celestial s p h e r e and d r i ves a small image ofthe sun along a track that is appro x i m a t e l y the apparent celestial path of the sun among the stars. T he hour is indicated in a dial mounted at the top of the globes axis, and the calendar rotates to the day of the year in the horizon ring C l o c ks and timepieces ofall kinds, collected by many princes of n o rt h e r n Europe, w e r e a luxury that only a few could af f ord. Clocks were expensi v e to pur c hase and dif f icult to maintain, so they were prized by their owners. No one knows exactly when or where clocks w e r e inv e n t e d but they w e r e found in European towns and cities by the thirteenth century. T hey were true R enaissance artifacts, r e presenting a collaboration between artists, artisans, and scientists. T ime is g ov erned by the apparent rotations of the hea v enly bodies, and astronomer-scientists obser v ed and determined time by the stars. T he mechanical clocka simple apparatus that k eeps a steady rate for relati v ely short inter v alscreated the possibility of accuracy in keeping time. Artists could then create clocks that not only measure the passage of time but are also e x t r a o rd i n a r y visual and symbolic objects, objects in w h i c h aesthetics and mechanics w e r e c o m b i n e d to bring the lar g er order of the uni v erse into daily life. 69 C E L E S T I A L G L O B E W I T H C L O C K WO R K S LIDE 26

T his magnificent suit of steel and gold was made for an English knight, Sir Geor ge Clif f ord, third earl of Cumberland, who li v ed from 1558 to 1605. His life and career w ere closely allied with service to his monar c h, Elizabeth I. Suits of armor originally were designed to protect knights during battle. T he rounded, o v er lapping steel plates off e r ed protection by b l o c king and deflecting b l o ws from sw o r ds and lances. For f l ex i b i l i t y many small, mov e a b le plates w e r e riveted tog e t h e r By the sixteenth century, howev e r gunpowder had been invented, and steel plates thick enough to deflect bullets would have made a complete suit of a r mor too heavy to w e a r Suits like Cliff o rd s w e r e w o r n for jousts, tournaments, and parades. Because ofthe lavish gold decoration and the excellent condition ofthe suit, it is doubtful that C l i f f o r d ever w o r e it for anything other than ceremonial duties. It combines the cut ofa f a s h i o n a b le doublet with the decorative eff e c t o f r i c h brocaded fabric, executed in techniques and with materials often identified with jewelr y Its visual impact is heightened by the associations of metal and armor with strength and po w er T his suit was made in the r oy al armory established at Greenwich in 1515 or 1516 by King Henr y VIII, father of Elizabeth I. T he ele g ant and shapely silhouette of the suit of armor was the result of careful measuring, cutting, and shaping of f lat steel plates hammered to threedimensional forms that would o v erlap to sug g est the contours of an Elizabethan doublet with its pointed peascod belly and flaring tassets. Extra protection was pr o vided to the neck, elbows, and shoulders, and the helmet visor could be pushed up or left down, in which case the knight looked through two nar ro w slits cut into the metal. T he gauntlets or glo v es extended o v er the wrists while allowing each finger to mo v e separatel y. Alternating bands of decorationgilded emblems against a dark backg r ound and dark linear designs against a gilt backg r oundaccentuate the height and stance of the knight. T he bands taper and widen to emphasize the bodys contour, and the designs retain their continuity on the le g arm, and finger areas where se v eral plates telescope together to allow for mo v ement. A R M O R O F G E O RG E C L I F F O R D T H I R D E A R L O F C U M B E R L A N D 71 S LIDE 27

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S LIDE 27 A RMOR OF G EORGE C LIFFORD ,T HIRD E ARL OF C UMBERLAND English, Greenwich, ca. 1580 Steel, blued, etched, and gilded; height 69 in. Munsey Fund, 1932 (32.130.6) T he rich decoration was the result of three dif f erent processes: E T C H I N G Designs w e r e painted onto the metal with an acid-pr o o f substance. Acids applied to these areas would eat away at the exposed metal, leaving high and low areas defining the design; G ILDING T he low areas of the design were filled with a paste made of g old po w der and mercur y.W hen this paste was heated, the mercury burned a way melting the gold into the etched design; B L UING Finall y the metal plates were heated slowl y At a certain temperature, the surface of the metal would darken and take on an iridescent quality 72

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Geor g e Clif f ord would ha v e needed assistance from his squire to dress in his armor, which as assembled here would ha v e weighed 60 pounds. A variety of hooks, hinges, straps, and laces allo w ed the fourteen separate pieces to be attached to each other, to the clothes worn under the armor, and around the bod y At T he Metropolitan Museum of Art, you will see a number of additional pieces displa y ed around the suit of armor .T hey could be attached as reinforcement to the basic suit, or swapped for one ofthe other pieces; for example, depending upon the o c c a s i o n Clif f ord could choose between the two helmets. T here are extra vamplates, or hand guards used during jousting, as well as armor for Clif f ords horse. T he complete set, with all its companion pieces, is known as a garniture. In the ear l y days of armor, heraldic devices and emblems were applied to identify the knight on the battlefield, and this tradition persisted, with designs becoming e v en more decorati v e and symbolic. T he emblems on Geor g e Clif f ords armor ha v e political significance. T he f iv e-petaled r oses are an emblem of the r oy al T udor famil y and the fleur-de-lys shape appears on the English coat of arms as a reminder of Englands claim o v er certain F r ench territories. T he letter E entwined with knots and rings appears down the front of the cuirass and on other parts of the armor. It is Elizabeths initial, and it indicates homage from the knight to his queen. After studying mathematics and geography at Cambridge and Oxford, Clif f ord sailed the ocean as a gentleman pirate, r obbing Spanish ships of their New W orld gold and transporting it back to England for the Queen. His most notable feat was the capture of El Mor r o fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1598, which he then held for f iv e months. Clif f ord participated in jousts and tilts at the court of Elizabeth, and in 1590, he was named the Queen s Champion, a post that in v olved presiding o v er the tournaments held e v ery Queen s Day (No v ember 17). A contemporary described Geor g e Clif f ord in terms that an armorer would ha v e understood w hen he said of the knight, He was as merciful as valiant, the best metal bends best. 73 T H E M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S T HOUGHTS : R enaissance individual; nobility; the world at lar ge C O M PA R E :S L I D E S 23, 23 A (costume); S L I D E S 5, 9 (fame and prestige) L ESSON P LANS : P ersonal Armor, p. 111; Daily Life, p. 197 T UDOR R OSE F LEUR DE LYS D OUBLE E

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S imilar to the spinet in its musical aspects, the double virginal differs mark e d l y in its visual impact. The spinet is elegant and sophisticated, intricately inlaid, with a subtle and witty inscription, while the virginal is bulky, boldly painted, and forthright in its message. T his double virginal was made in Antwerp in 1581 by Hans Ruc k ers the Elder, the head of a r enowned family of Flemish harpsichord builders. Instrument makers were members of Saint Lukes Guild, which included painters and other artists as well. Its boxy shape is typical of Flemish virginals. W hen not in use, the front panel swings up to conceal the keyboards, and the lid closes to protect the strings. T he inner surfaces, r ev ealed when the instrument is opened, are simply decorated, and the Latin inscription hangs from the instrument like a banner .T he lid painting shows people in a landscape and ar c hitectural scene. T he noble courtiers, both men and women, wear Spanish-style clothing and lounge in graceful poses as they arri v e on a boat, sit and listen to music, eat, dance, or play a croquet-like game. In two gold-painted medallions, profile portraits of Philip II of Spain and his wife, Anne of A ustria, face each other o v er the lar g er keyboard. T he images of Spanish r oy alty on this virginal are not surprising, since in 1581 Flanders was ruled by the Spanish. The royal f a m i l y may have commissioned this instrument to send to friends in the New W o r ld, as it was found in Cuz c o P e r u, in a hacienda chapel early in this c e n t u r y.V irginals often were associated with women musicians. Queen Elizabeth I of England and her cousin and rival Mary Stuart both played the virginal, and even the name v i rg i n a l s u g g e s t s y oung women. K eyboard instruments such as spinets, harpsichords, and virginals were ideal for playing the polyphonic, or many-voiced, music of the Renaissance, because more than one key or melod y could be pla y ed at the same time. T he quill mechanism acti v ated by the keys rises to pluck the strings that are stretched parallel to each other like the strings of a har p.T his double virginal incorporates two keyboard instruments, the child, or smaller, higher-pitched instrument on the left, and the lar g er and lo w er-pitched mother on the right. T he smaller keyboard could be r emo v ed from the case and placed on top of the lar g er keyboard, so that the pla y er could use both at once. H A N S R U C K E R S T H E E L D E R 75 S LIDE 28

L andscape as the sole or e v en primary subject of a painting was unusual in the sixteenth centurye v en more unusual is this painting, in which the dramatic sky is as important as the earth. T he human figures appear as mere specks scattered throughout the painting, some walking on the road near the ancient R oman bridge, others washing strips of c loth in the ri v er. El Greco manipulated the terrain: he intensified the steepness of the hill and contrasted the lush g r een, almost tropical v eg etation in the f or egr ound with the bar r en landscape in the backg r ound .T he dark sky vibrates with the intensity of lightning and illuminates the landscape and ar c hitecture with an unnatural blue light. T he town of T oledo rises, ghostlike, on top of the hill. As he did with the landscape, El Greco r econfigured the la y out of the town, moving the cathedral and the Alczarthe r oy al palace to heighten the drama. This is a uniquely personal painting, a visionary moment full of t u rm o i l and hope, expressed through the richness and flexibility of oil paint and the mo v ement and quality of the artists brushstrokes. In this painting, El Greco describes the character of the city and a glimpse into its daily life. T oledo was the seat of the Spanish Counter-Reformation and a center of higher learning, and by depicting the washing ofcloth he inf o r ms the viewer about the citys successful te x t i l e p r oduction. At the time El Greco painted this unfor g ettable view there was a campaign in this ancient city to restore its past fame and glory; most probab l y this is the painters tribute to his adopted city El Greco was born in 1541 on the island of Crete, where he studied the tradition of Byzantine painting. By 1568, he was studying in Ital y where he was impressed profoundly by the V enetian painters, especiall yT itian and T intoretto. Eight years later he mo v ed to Spain, hoping to gain the support of Philip II. T his was Spain s Golden Age of artistic patronage and production. Philip II, the periods g r eatest patron, e v entually transfer r ed the courtand hence the artistic nucleus of Spainfrom T oledo to Madrid. Though he employed native artists, he also i m p o r ted art and artists from other countries, mostly Italy and Flanders. El Greco settled in T oledo, but Philip II ne v er invited him to become a court painter Even though Spain was not in the mainstream of f ifteenthand sixteenth-century European artistic achie v ement, El Greco thought of himself as a Renaissance man and painter. He read V asari s Lives and wrote notes in the margin, where he compared himself fav orab l y to Michelangelo and other Italian painters of the Renaissance. His copy of the book is in the library of T oledo E L G R E C O 77 S LIDE 29

79 R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L H U M A N I S T L E T T E R Marsilio Ficino (1433), a Florentine philosopher writes to his friend the astronomer Paul of Middle b urg that this is a golden age, a time of aw akening and r e birth, after a thousand years of slee p following the fall of the Roman Empire. Both men were friends of F ederico da Montefeltr o the duke of Urbino ( S LIDE 9 ). T o Paul of Middle b ur g 1492 W hat the poets once sang of the four ages, lead, iron, silver and gold, our Plato in T he R e public transfer r ed to the four talents of men, assigning to some talents a c e r tain leaden quality implanted in them by nature, to others iron, to others silv e r and to still others gold. If then we are to call any age golden, it is beyond doubt that age which brings forth golden talents in dif f erent places. T hat such is true of our age he who wishes to consider the illustrious disco v eries of this centur y will hardly doubt. For this centur y like a golden age, has restored to light the liberal arts, which were almost extinct: grammar, poetr y rhetoric, painting sculpture, ar c hitecture, music, the ancient singing of songs to the Orphic lyre, and all this in Florence. Achieving what has been honored among the ancients, b ut almost for g otten since, the age has joined wisdom with eloquence, and prudence with the military art, and this most striking l y in Federigo [Federico], Duke of Urbino, as if proclaimed in the presence of P allas herself, and it has made his son and his brothers the heirs of his virtue. In you also, my dear Paul, this century appears to ha v e perfected astronom y and in Florence it has recalled the platonic teaching from darkness into light. In Germany in our times ha ve been i n vented the instruments for printing books, and those tables in w h i c h in a single hour (ifI may speak thus) the whole face ofthe heavens for an entire c e n t u r y is r ev ealed, and one may mention also the Florentine machine whic h shows the daily motions of the hea v ens. J ames Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin, eds., T he Portable Renaissance R eader New Y ork: Penguin Books, 1981, p. 79.

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80 R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L H U M A N I S T L E T T E R from Desiderius Erasmus (1466), the Dutch humanist, to his friend T homas More (1478), the English humanist and author of Utopia Erasmus wrote the book Moriae encomium (The Praise of F olly), a satire that he dedicated to More. In a witty p re f ace, Erasmus explains the pun on the w o r d for f o l l y ( m o r i a ) and the name More ( S L I D E 1 7 ) [Paris?] 9 June [1511] T o his friend T homas More, g r eetings: In days gone b y on my journey back from Italy into England, in order not to w aste all the time that must needs be spent on horseback in dull and unlettered g ossiping, I prefer r ed at times either to turn o v er in my mind some topic of our common studies or to gi v e myself ov er to the pleasing recollection of the friends, as learned as they are belo v ed, whom I had left behind me in England. Y ou were among the very first of these to spring to mind, my dear More; indeed I used to enjoy the memory of y ou in absence e v en as I was wont to delight in your present company, that w h i c h I swear I never in my life met anything sw e e t e r T herefore, since I thought that I must at all hazards do something, and that time seemed ill suited to serious meditation, I determined to amuse myself with the Praise of F oll y.Y ou will ask what goddess put this into my mind. In the first place it was your family name of More, which comes as near to the wor d moria [folly] as you yourself are far from the realitye v er y one ag r ees that you are far r emo v ed from it. Next I suspected that you abo v e all would appr ov e this jeu desprit of mine, in that you yourself do g r eatly delight in jests of this kind, that is, jests learned (if I mistake not) and at no time inspid, and altogether like to play in some sort the Democritus [c. 460 B C ; a Greek philosopher who derided or laughed at peoples follies and vanities] in the life of society Although you indeed, owing to your incredib l y s w eet and easy-going character are both able and glad to be all things to all men, e v en as your singular l y pene trating intellect causes you to dissent widely from the opinions of the herd. So y ou will not only gladly accept this little declamation as a memento of y our comrade, but will also take it under your protection, inasmuch as it is dedicated to you and is now no longer mine but yours. J ohan Huizinga, Erasmus and the Age of R eformation New Y ork: Harper & R ow, 1957, p. 209.

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81 R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L H U M A N I S T O R AT I O N by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (14631494), a young nobleman with a v o r a c i o u s appetite for kno w l e d g e. He studied at the universities ofPadua and Paris and at the Platonic A c a d e m y in Florence. From his study ofArabic and He b r ew he was led to inv e s t i g ate Asian r e l i g i o n and philosophy. The f o l l o wing ex c e r pt comes from the first part ofhis O r ation on the Dignity of M a n At last it seems to me I ha v e come to understand w h y man is the most f ortunate of creatures and consequently worthy of all admiration and what precisely is that rank which is his lot in the uni v ersal chain of Beinga rank to be envied not only by brutes but e v en by the stars and by minds beyond this w orld. It is a matter past faith and wondrous one. Wh y should it not be? For it is on this very account that man is rightly called and judged a g r eat miracle and w onderful creature indeed. At last the best of the artisans ordained that the creature to whom He had been a b le to give nothing proper to himselfshould have joint possession ofw h a t e v e r had been peculiar to each of the dif f erent kinds of being. He therefore took man a creature of the world, addressed him thus: Neither a fixed abode nor a for m that is thine alone nor any function peculiar to thyself ha v e we gi v en thee, Adam, to the end that according to thy longing and according to thy judgment thou m a yest have and possess what abode, what f o r m, and what functions thou th y s e l f shalt desire. T he nature of other beings is limited and constrained within the bounds of laws prescribed by Us. T hou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in whose hand W e ha v e placed thee, shalt ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature. W e ha v e set thee at the worlds center that thou ma y est from thence more easily obser v e whate v er is in the world. W e ha v e made thee neither of hea v en nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of c hoice and with honor, as though the maker and molder of thyself thou ma y est fashion thyself in whate v er shape thou shalt prefer .T hou shalt ha ve the po w er to de g enerate into the lo w er forms of life, which are brutish. T hou shalt ha v e the po w er, out of thy souls judgment, to be r e born into the higher f orms, which are divine. Ernst Cassirer, Paul Oskar Kristeller, and John Herman Randall, Jr., eds, T he Renaissance Philosophy of Man Chicago: Uni v ersity of Chicago Press, 1956, pp. 223.

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82 C O N V E R S AT I O N between Michelangelo Buonar r oti and the poet V ittoria Colonna. T he con v ersation, which took place in Rome, was recorded by the Portuguese painter Francisco de Hollanda in his F our Dialogues (1547). And smiling, she said: I much wish to kno w since we are on the subject, what Flemish painting may be and whom it pleases, for it seems to me more de v out than that in the Italian manner Flemish painting, slowly ans w ered the painter, will, generally speaking, Signora, please the de v out better than any painting of Ital y which will ne v er cause him to shed a tear, whereas that of Flanders will cause him to shed many; and that not through the vigor and goodness of the painting but owing to the goodness of the de v out person. It will appeal to women, especially to the very old and the v ery young, and also to monks and nuns and to certain noblemen who ha v e no sense of true harmon y In Flanders they paint, with a view to deceiving sensual vision, such things as may cheer you and of w hich you cannot speak ill, as for e xample saints and prophets. T hey paint stuffs and masonr y the g r een grass of the fields, the shadow of the trees, and ri v ers and bridges, which they call landscapes, with many figures on this side and many figures on that. And all of this, though it pleases some persons, is done without reason or art, without symmetry or proportion, without skillful selection or boldness and, finall y with out substance or vigor. Ne v ertheless there are countries where they paint worse than Flanders. And I do not speak so ill of Flemish painting because it is all bad but because it attempts to do so many things well (each one ofw h i c h could s u f f i c e f or g r eatness) that it does none well. R obert Klein and Henri Zerner, eds., Italian Art, 1500: Sources and Documents Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern Uni v ersity Press, 1989, p. 33. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T

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83 J O U R NA L E N T R Y Albrecht Drer (1471) describes a procession in Antwer p.T his procession may ha v e been similar to a T riumph ( S LIDE 5 ). Albrecht Drer was a German painter, humanist, and art theorist whose use of the popular graphic media, won him fame. ( S LIDE 13 Lesson Plan: Printmaking, p. 191) On the Sunday after our dear Ladys Assumption I saw the g r eat procession from the Chur c h of Our Lady at Antwer p when the whole town of ev ery craft and rank was assembled, each dressed in his best according to his rank. And all ranks and guilds had their signs, by which they might be known. In the inter v als g r eat costly pole-candles were borne, and their long old Frankish trumpets of silver T here were also in the German fashion many pipers and drummers. All the instruments were loudly and noisily blown and beaten. I saw the procession pass along the street, the people being arranged in r o ws, each man some distance from his neighbour, but the r o ws close one behind another .T here were the goldsmiths, the painters, the masons, the broiderers, the sculptors, the joiners, the carpenters, the sailors, the fishermen, the butchers, the leatherers, the clothmakers, the bakers, the tailors, the shoemakersindeed workmen ofall kinds, and many craftsmen and dealers who work for their l i velihood. Likewise the shopkeepers and mer c hants and their assistants of all kinds were there. After these came the shooters, with guns, bows, and crossbows; and the horsemen and foot-soldiers also .T hen follo w ed a g r eat cr ow d of the lords magistrates. T hen came a fine troop all in red, nob l y and splendidl y c lad. Before them, ho wev er, went all the religious orders and the members of some foundations very de v outl y all in their dif f erent robes. A v e r y large company of w i d o ws also took part in this procession. They support themselves with their own hands and obser v e a special rule. T hey were all d re s s e d f r om head to foot in white linen g a r ments, made e x p re s s l y for the occasion,v er y sor ro wful to see. Among them I saw some very stately persons. Last of all c a m e the chapter ofOur Lad y s Church, with all their c l e r gy, scholars, and tr e a s u re s Tw enty persons bore the image of the V irgin Mary with the Lord Jesus, adorned in the costliest manner, to the honour of the Lord God. In this procession very many delightful things were shown, most splendidly got up .W agons were drawn along with masques upon ships and other structures. Among them was the company of the prophets in their order and scenes from the New Testament, such as the Annunciation, the T h r ee Holy Kings [magi] riding on g r eat camels and other rare beasts, very well arranged; also how Our Lady fled to Egyptvery de v outand many other things, which for shortness I omit. At the end came a great dragon, w h i c h St. Marg a r et and her maidens led by a gir d l e ; she was especially beautiful. Behind her came St. Geor g e with his squires, a ver y R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T

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84 g oodly knight in armour. In this host also rode boys and maidens most finel y and splendidly dressed in the costumes of many lands, r e presenting various saints. F r om beginning to end the procession lasted more than two hours befor e it was gone past our house. And so many things were there that I could ne v er write them all in a book, so I let it well alone. J ames Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin, eds., T he Portable Renaissance R eader New Y ork: Penguin Books, 1981, pp. 228.

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85 L E T T E R outlining a young painters studies, written by the master painter Francesco Squarcione of P adua to the master painter Guzon. Guzon s son will study with Squarcione. October 30, 1467, Padua Be it known and clear to who ev er may read this writing that master Guzon, painter, has ag r eed with master Francesco Squarcione, painter, that the latter is to teach the formers son, Francesco, and namely the principle of a plane with lines drawn according to my method, and to put figures on the said plane, one h e r e and one there, in various places on the said plane, and place objects, namely a chair, bench, or house, and get him to understand these things, and teach him to understand a man s head in foreshortening by isometric rendering, that is, of a perfect square underneath in foreshortening, and teach him the system of a naked bod y measured in front and behind, and to put eyes, nose, mouth and ears in a man s head at the right measured places, and teach him all these things item b y item as far as I am able and as far as the said Francesco will be able to learn, and as far as my knowledge and basic principle will go and al wa ys keep him with paper in his hand to pr o vide him with a model, one after another, with various f igures in lead white, and cor r ect these models for him, and cor r ect his mistakes so far as I can and he is capable, and this is ag r eed by both sides for four months f r om now, and he is to give me halfa ducat ev e r y month as my fee [detailed pa y m e n t pr o visions, including food pr o vided] and if he should damage any drawing of mine the said Guzon is required to pay me its full worth, etc. And I Francesco Squarcione wrote this with my own hand. Creighton E. Gilbert, ed., Italian Art, 1400: Sources and Documents Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern Uni v ersity Press, 1992, p. 34. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T / T R A I N I N G

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86 C O N T R AC T f or an artists apprentice. T his contract is between the Florentine artist Neri di Bicci and his apprentice Cosimo di Lorenzo Mar c h 1, 1456 I record that on the abo v e day I, Neri di Bicci, hired as a disciple in the art of painting Cosimo di Lorenzo, for a year beginning on the same day and ending on the same day in 1457, with these ag r eements and procedures, that the said Cosimo must come to the shop at all times and hours that I wish, day or night, and on holidays when necessar y to apply himself to working without any time of f and if he takes any time of f he is required to make it up. And I Neri must gi v e the said Cosimo for his salary in the said year 18 florins, paying him e v er y three months: and this was ag r eed with the said Cosimo on the abo v e day in m y house and so I ha v e made this record at his desire with this ag r eement. Creighton E. Gilbert, ed., Italian Art, 1400: Sources and Documents Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern Uni v ersity Press, 1992, p. 31. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T / T R A I N I N G

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87 C O N T R AC T between the artist and the patron. T his is a contract between Domenico Ghirlandaio, the Florentine painter, and the patron Francesco di Gio v anni T esori for the commission of an altarpiece titled T he Ador a tion of the Magi. Be it known and manifest to who ev er sees or reads this document that, at the r equest of the r ev erend Messer Francesco di Gio v anni T esori presently Prior of the Spedale de g li Innocenti at Florence, and of Domenico di T omaso di Curado Ghirlandaio, painter, I, Fra Bernardo di Francesco of Florence, Jesuate Brother ha v e drawn up this document with my own hand as ag r eement contract and commission for an altar panel to go in the chur c h of the abo v e said Spedale de g li Innocenti with the ag r eements and stipulations stated belo w namely: T hat this day 23 October 1485 the said Francesco commits and entrusts to the said Domenico the painting of a panel which the said Francesco has had made and has pr o vided; the which panel the said Domenico is to make good, that is, pay for; and he is to colour and paint the said panel all with his own hand in the manner shown in a drawing on paper with those figures and in that manner shown in it, in e v ery particular according to what I, Fra Bernardo, think best; not departing from the manner and composition of the said drawing; and he must colour the panel at his own expense with good colours and with po w dered gold on such ornaments as demand it, with any other expense incur r ed on the same panel, and the blue must be ultramarine of the value of about four florins the ounce; and he must have made and deliv e r ed complete the said panel within thir t y months from today; and he must recei v e as the price of the panel as her e described (made at his, that is, the said Domenicos expense throughout) 115 lar g e florins if it seems to me, the abo v e said Fra Bernardo, that it is worth it; and I can go to whome v er I think best for an opinion on its value or workman ship, and if it does not seem to me worth the stated price, he shall recei v e as much less as I, Fra Bernardo, think right; and he must within the terms of the ag r eement paint the predella of the said panel as I, Fra Bernardo, think good; and he shall recei v e payment as followsthe said Messer Francesco starting from 1 No v ember 1485 and continuing after as is stated, e v ery month three lar ge f lorins. And ifDomenico has not deliv e r ed the panel within the above said period of time, he will be liable to a penalty of f ifteen lar g e florins; and cor responding l y if Messer Francesco does not keep to the abo v e said monthl y payment he will be liable to a penalty of the whole amount, that is once the panel is finished he will ha v e to pay complete in full the balance of the sum due. Michael Baxandall, P ainting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy New Y ork: Oxford Uni v ersity Press, 1988, p. 6. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T / P A T RO N

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88 L E T T E R from an artist asking his patron for money .T his letter is from Fra Filippo Lippi to Gio v anni di Cosimo de Medici. Gio v anni was often out of Florence, and Lippi tried to kee p in touch with him by letter ( S LIDE 4 ). I ha v e done what you told me on the painting, and applied myself scrupulousl y to each thing .T he figure of Saint Michael is now so near finishing that, since his armour is to be of silver and gold and his other garments too, I ha v e been to see Bartolomeo Martelli: he said he would speak with Francesco Cantansanti about the gold and what you want, and that I should do exactly what you wish. And he chided me, making out that I ha v e wronged you. No w Gio v anni, I am altogether your ser v ant here, and shall be so indeed. I ha ve had fourteen florins from you, and I wrote to you that my expenses would come to thirty florins, and it comes to that much because the picture is rich in its orna ment. I beg you to arrange with Martelli to be your agent in this work, and if I need something to speed the work along, I may go to him and it will be seen to If y ou ag r ee to gi v e me sixty florins to include materials, gold, gilding and painting, with Bartolomeo acting as I sug g est, I will for my part, so as to cause y ou less trouble, ha v e the picture finished completely by 20 August, with Bartolomeo as my guarantor. And to keep you informed, I send a drawing of how the tripty c h is made of w ood, and with its height and breadth. Out of friendship to you I do not want to take more than the labour cost of 100 florins f or this: I ask no more. I beg you to r e pl y because I am languishing here and want to leave Florence when I am finished. IfI have presumed too much in writing to you, forgi v e me. I shall al wa ys do what you want in e v ery respect, g r eat and small. V alete [Be well]. 10 July 1457 F ra Filippo the painter in Florence. Michael Baxandall, P ainting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy New Y ork: Oxford Uni v ersity Press, 1988, p. 4. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T / P A T RO N

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89 R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L A R T I S T / P A T RO N L E T T E R from a patron concerning the welfare of an artist. In this letter, Philip the Good writes his accountants, r eg arding Jan van Ey c ks pension ( S LIDE 2 ). We have heard that you do not r e a d i l y verify certain ofour letters g r a n t i n g lif e pension to our well belo v ed equer r y painter, Jan van Ey c k, wher eb y he cannot be paid said pension; and for this reason, he will find it necessary to leave our ser v i c e w hich would cause us g r eat displeasure, for we would retain him for certain g r eat w orks with which we intend henceforth to occupy him and we would not find his like more to our taste, one so e x cellent in his art and science. W olfgang Stecho w ed., Northern Renaissance Art, 1440: Sources and Documents Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966, p. 4. J OURNAL E NTRIES Albrecht Drer (1471) comments on Lady Mar g aret of A ustria, a patron and collector with a changeable nature. Mar g aret sent after me to Brussels and promised she would speak in my behalf to King Charles, and has shown herself quite e x ceptionally kind to me; and I sent her my engra v ed P assion I ha v e been to Lady Mar g arets, and I let her see my Kaiser and would ha v e pr esented it to her, but she disliked it so much that I took it a wa y again. And on F riday Lady Mar g aret sho w ed me all her beautiful things, among them I sa w about 40 small pictures in oils, the like of w hich for cleanness and e x cellence I ha v e ne v er seen. And there I saw other good works by Jan [Van Ey c k] and Jacopo [de Barbari]. I asked my lady for Jacopos little book, but she had promised it to her painter; then I saw many other costly things and a fine librar y In all my doings, spendings, sales, and other dealings in the Netherlands, in all my a f fairs with high and low, I have suff e r ed loss, and Lady Marg a r et in par t i c u l a r gave me nothing for what I g av e her and did for her R oger F ry ed., Drers Record of J ourneys to V enice and the Low Countries New Y ork: Do v er, 1995, pp. 48, 91, 95.

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90 R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L F A M I L Y D I S C O U R S E O N M A N N E R S Gio v anni della Casa, a papal nuncio, probab l y wrote this passage around 1555 for his young nephew, Annibale Rucellai, to instruct him in the manners of the perfect gentleman. T o help you understand how to beha v e I must first teach you that your conduct should not be g ov erned by your own fanc y but in consideration of the feelings of those whose company you kee p For this reason it is a re p u l s i ve habit to t o u c h certain parts ofthe body in public, as some people do. Again, when you ha v e blown your nose, you should not open your handker c hief and inspect it, as though pearls or rubies had dropped out of y our skull. Such behavior is nause ating and is more likely to lose us the af f ection of those who lo v e us than to win us the favor ofothers. It is not polite to scratch y o u r s e l f when you are seated at table. Y ou should also take care, as far as you can, not to spit at mealtimes, b u t i f you must spit, then do so in a decent manner. We should also be car e f u l n o t to g o b ble our food so gr e e d i l y as to cause ourselves to get hiccups or commit some other unpleasantness. It is also bad manners to clean your teeth with y our napkin, and still worse to do it with your finger, for such conduct is unsightl y It is wrong to rinse your mouth and spit out wine in public, and it is not a polite habit, when you rise from the table, to car r y your toothpick either in your mouth, like a bird making its nest, or behind your ear. It is also unmanner l y to sprawl o v er the table or to fill both sides of y our mouth so full with food that your cheeks are bloated. And you must do nothing to show that y ou ha v e found g r eat relish in the food or the wine, for these are the customs of the ta v ern and the alehouse. I do not think it right to of f er food from one s own plate to anyone else, unless the person who offers it is of m u c h more e x a l t e d rank, in which case it would be a mark of honor for the other. If both are of the same rank, it is rather a presumption of superiority for one of them to of f er his food to the other, and sometimes the tidbit might not be to his taste. No one must take of f his clothes, especially his lo w er garments, in public, that is, in the presence of decent people, because this is not the right place for undressing .... You should neither comb your hair nor wash your hands in the presence of o t h e r s b e c a u s e e x c e pt for w a s h i n g the hands before going in to a mealsuch things are done in the bedroom and not in public. Again, you must not appear in public with your nightcap on your head or fasten your hose when other people are present. Anyone who makes a nasty noise with his lips as a sign of a s t o n ishment or disappr ov al is obviously imitating something indecent, and imitations are not too far from the truth. J ames Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin, eds., T he Portable Renaissance R eader New Y ork: Penguin Books, 1981, p. 340.

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91 R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L F A M I L Y L E T T E R from Friedrich Behaim, a fourteen-year-old German student, to his mother 13 October, 1578 Filial lo v e and de v otion, dear Mother .W hen you are well and har dy it gi v es me gr eat joy to hear it. I am also still in good health. Dear Mother, know that although the first quarter is not yet ov e r I have been u n a b le to get by on the gulden you gave me [for my personal use], and I have spent an additional half-gulden. I would still like to make do on a gulden per quarter in the future, but I need many things for w h i c h I must spend money. So I ask you to send me as much as you will, and I will use it [accor d i n g ly] for my needs. Also, my e v er y day trousers are full of holes and hardly worth patching; I can barely co v er my rear, although the stockings are still good. W inter is almost here, so I still need a [new] lined coat. All I ha v e is the w ov en Arlas, which is also full of holes. So would you ha v e my buckram smock lined as you think best? I ha ve not worn it more than twice. O e rt e l s cooking declines daily. Seldom ifever do I enjoy a meal, for the food he is serving now is thor o u g h l y unclean, especially the meat, w h i c h is spoiled. Also, my throat is so swollen that I can bar e l y sw a l l o w. I need some w a r m mead for it. Nothing more for no w I would like to ha v e written you sooner, but I ha v e not had the time because exams were held last week and I had to stud y. Greet all the household for me. Please write me when Sigmund Oertel and A ppolonia Lof f elholz are getting married. 13 October, 1578. Y[our] L[oving] S[on] F riedrich Behaim Ste v en Ozment, trans., T hree Behaim Boys: Growing Up in Early Modern German y, 1990, pp. 105.

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92 L E T T E R f r om Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi to her son on the subject ofhis sisters mar r i a ge In the name of God. 24 August 1447 Dearest son, in the last few days I ha v e recei v ed your letter of the 16th of J ul y, w hich I will ans w er in this one. And first I must tell you how by the grace of God we ha v e arranged a marriag e f or our Caterina to the son of P arente di Piero Parenti. He is a young man of good birth and abilities and an only son, rich and tw e n t y f ive years of a g e, and h e has a silk manufacturing business. And they take a small part in the gov e rn m e n t as a little while ago his father was [an of f ice holder] in the Colle g e. And so I am giving him one thousand florins of dowr y that is, f iv e hundred florins that she is due in May 1448 from the Fund, and the other f iv e hundred I have to give him, made up ofcash and trousseau, when she goes to her husbands house, whic h I belie v e will be in No v ember, God willing. And this money will be partly yours and partly mine. If I hadn t taken this decision she wouldn t ha v e been m a rr i e d this y e a r because he who marries is looking for cash and I couldnt f ind an y one w ho was willing to wait for the dowry until 1448, and part in 1450. So as Im giving him this f iv e hundred made up of cash and trousseau, the 1450 [money] will be mine if she li v es until then. W e v e taken this decision for the best because she was sixteen and we didn t want to wait any longer to arrange a marriage. And w e found that to place her in a nobler family with g r eater political status would ha v e needed fourteen or fifteen hundred florins, which would h a ve ruined both o f us. And Im not sure it would have made the girl any happier, because outside the r e gime theres not a g r eat choice, and this is a big problem for us. Everything considered, I decided to settle the girl well and not to take such things into account. Im sure shell be as well placed as any girl in Florence, because shell ha v e a mother and father-in-law who are only happy making her happ y Oh and I ha v en t told you about Marco yet, [Caterinas] husband, hes al wa ys saying to her If y ou want anything ask me for it. W hen she was b e t r othed he or d e r ed a gown ofcrimson v e l v et for her made ofsilk and a sur c o a t of the same fabric, w hich is the most beautiful cloth in Florence. He had it made in his workshop And he had a garland of f eathers and pearls made for when she g o es to her husbands house. And hes having a rose-colored g o wn made, embroidered with pearls. He feels he can t do enough having things made, because shes beautiful and he wants her to look e v en more so .T here isn t a gir lin Florence to compare with her and shes beautiful in ev e r y way, or so many people think. May God gi ve them his grace and good health for a long time, as I wish. Cesare Guasti, ed., Lettere di una gentildonna fiorentina del secolo XV ai figliuoli, Florence: Sanson, 1877. R E NA I S S A N C E S O U RC E M A T E R I A L F A M I L Y

95 P L A N N I N G Y O U R L E S S O N Q U E S T I O N I N G S T R AT E G I E S F O R T E AC H E R S T he following questions pr o vide a w a y of looking at a Renaissance work of art. W e sug g est that before you plan your lessons you ask yourself the following questions while you look at the w ork of art. Y ou will find useful information in the introduction and slide entries. T he first f our questions invite you to look at a Renaissance painting .T he fifth question requires you to synthesize what you ha v e learned from ans w ering the first four questions with your own knowl edge of the Renaissance. T he sixth question asks you once again to contemplate the work of art. W hile this method may be used for any of the artworks, we ha v e chosen to demonstrate the questioning strategies with the painting Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus, S LIDE 6 1. W HA T DO Y OU SEE ? T his is an open-ended question that seems simple; it is the first step to looking. Each artist invites us to see the world in a dif f erent w ay.T he information that you gather from this obser v ation pr o vides a basis for the following questions. 2. W HA TR OLE DOES THE HUMAN FIGURE PLA Y IN THE ARTWORK ? T he human figure plays a central role in Renaissance works of art. It reflects the Renaissance b e l i e f in the importance ofthe individual, along with the periods r e n e w ed aw a r eness ofc l a s s i c a l re presentations of the human figure. 3. H OW H A S T H E A RT I S T C R E AT E D T H E I L LU S I O N O F S P A C E O N A F L A T S U R F A C E O R T H E P I C T U R E PLANE ? T he importance of perspecti v e in the Renaissance is attached to the desire of the painter to create a worldly space, ele g ant and habitable, and ordered by the intellect. 4. H OW ARE UNITY AND HARMONY A CHIEVED IN THE W ORK OF AR T ? T his question asks the viewer to obser v e and analyze how the parts of a painting are arranged. T he de v elopment of the subject matter is an element in the design of the composition, along with line, shape, and color 5. W HA T DO THE P ARTICULAR DETAILS IN THE P AINTING TELL US ? T his question sug g ests that you look at the painting as primary source material that will raise new directions of inquir y Use your knowledge of the Renaissance along with the information in this pac k et; identify particular details that relate to your curriculum. Following is a detailed analysis of this question. 6. W HA T D OY OU S EE ? W e sug g est you take ten minutes to look at the painting again. Remember what you first thought and what you think now. These paintings speak to us through a shared and continuous sense of our humanity

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A N A N A L Y S I S O F Q U E S T I O N 5 S A I N T E L I G I U S B Y P E T RU S C H R I S T U S S L I D E 6 It is important to ha v e the image of Saint Eligius in front of y ou as you ans w er the questions. W hen you reach Question 5, which asks you about the particular details of the painting, use the following method to initiate an exploration of daily life in northern Europe during the f ifteenth centur y.T he questions in v estigate themes rele v ant to social studies, humanities, and history units: the individual, family and home, society, and the lar g er world. B A CKGROUND In the fifteenth centur y Flanders was agriculturally producti v e and densely populated. It was one of the principal commercial hubs of Europe. Petrus Christus li v ed in Bruges, which at the time was a thriving economic and cultural center I NDIVIDUAL T his refers to the central Renaissance idea that man is the measure of all things. P ersonal identity is conv e y ed through portraits, personal emblems or coats of a rm s and special commiss i o n s such as the parade helmet, S LIDE 23 or the Studiolo from the Ducal Palace a t Gubbio S LIDE 9 Aestheticall y the importance of the individual is reflected in the portra y al of the human bod y in motion, the depiction of emotion, and the de v elopment of perspecti v e. Specifically in Saint Eligius: Clothes indicate social status. T he couple belongs to the urban elite. T he woman s headdress and dress r e f lect the highest fashion ofthe day. She indicates the y a rd a g e ofher dr e s s a n o t h e r sign of w ealthby holding it folded under her arm. Her forehead is pluc k ed, in keeping with the fashion of the day that considered a high forehead to be a sign of beauty Saint Eligius is portra y ed as a goldsmith who is part of the g ro wing, prosperous middle class. He wears the simpler clothing of an artisan. F AMIL Y AND H OME The growth of n o t a b le and prestigious families str o n g ly affected the cultural, civic, and r e l i g i o u s life of the independent cities of northern and southern Europe. T he new urban middle class b uilt homes and decorated them with both secular and de v otional art. Much of the art is con nected with the life c yc lebirth, marriage, and death. Specifically in Saint Eligius: T he bridal belt, the ring, and the pewter wedding cup on the top shelf are allusions to marriage. T he af f ection r e presented between the two figures in this painting may refer to marriage. (See S O U RC E M A T E R I A L p. 92.) At this early date mar r i a g es between people of s u c h ob v i o u s l y opulent means were often arranged for dynastic, political, or economic reasons. (See S LIDE 4 .) T he circular con ve x mir r or introduces a complex intertwining of r eligious and secular life in both family and society (see Society, below). T he image of the falcon reflected in the mir r or might refer to hunting, a popular courtly sport and one that allo w ed engaged couples to meet in public before they were married. 96

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97 S OCIETY The independent city-states allowed, even r e q u i r ed, families to practice civic r e s p o n s i b i l i t y T hey v alued their participation in the r e presentati v e forms of gov ernment that r e placed the earlier f eudal hierar c hies. Many Renaissance works of art describe the settings as well as the activities of political, economic, and communal daily life. Specifically in Saint Eligius: The presence ofthe circular convex mirror has been inter p r eted in other ways; for e x a m p l e t h e fact that the mirror is cracked may indicate that the view e r s w o r ld is not a perfect one. I n Christian literature, the falcon is a symbol ofpride and greed, and the mirror is a symbol of S u p e r b i a the personification ofpride (one ofthe seven deadly sins). In this inter p re t a t i o n P e t r us Christuss painting may be contrasting sinful human behavior with the devout beha v i o r o f the couple inside the shop. Bruges was a famous center for the production and consumption of luxury goods. W hile the e xtensi v e depiction of objects can be considered an in v entory of a fifteenth-century goldsmith s shop, the more fabulous and e x otic objects allude to the g ro wth of cities and the rise of the middle class and their desire for sho w.T he new medium of oil paint g av e artists the freedom to render the material world in all its colors and radiance, creating a magical illusion. T he inclusion of the figure of an artisan in this painting can lead to a discussion of guilds and their place in society and religion. For example, this panel may ha v e been commissioned by the Goldsmiths Guild of Bruges for their chapel, and the figure may r e present their patron saint, Eligius. T HE L ARGER W ORLD A cor o l l a r y ofthe increased consciousness ofthe individual as a f o r ce in history is the heightened aw areness of others. T he details in the works of art demonstrate the g r eat extent of trade and tra v el during the Renaissance. Specifically in Saint Eligius: T hat Bruges was an international center of trade and commerce is evidenced by the following details in the painting: T he gold, coral, coconut, and silver on the shelves of the goldsmith shop are imported f ro m other parts ofthe w o r ld. The Islamic influence in the pattern ofthe lad y s dress fabric indicates that it was probab l y w ov en in V enice, which had a history of contact with the East. Te xtile production was the first trade in Europe to expand internationall y North of the Alps, the Flemish cities of Bruges and Ghent became centers of c loth making, while in the south, V enice and Florence built their economies on luxury textile production. G O B A CK TO Q UESTION 6 : At the end of this exploration, it is essential to go back and look at the painting as a whole and reconsider the first question: W hat do you see? T he details in this painting can also be selected to stimulate lessons in Science, V isual Arts, and Language Arts curricula.

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A N I N T E R AC T I V E A P P R OA C H TO T H E U S E O F S L I D E S I N T H E C L A S S RO O M Looking at works of art can be enjo y able and inspiring .T o truly experience art in this w ay,we must eng a g e personally with it. An interactive appr o a c h eng a g es the student!We sugg e s t that you start your lesson with one of the following e x ercises, designed especially to stimulate students visual reactions. The following e x ercise gi v es students the opportunity to respond intuiti v ely to a work of a r t. The students will discover that they do not need to have prior kno w l e d g e ofthe history or content of the work. S TEP 1: Show at least f iv e slides, leaving each slide on the screen for one minute. During the time each slide is projected ask students to jot down a word that best describes the image they are looking at. S TEP 2: Fr om the f iv e slides, select a work that is rele v ant to your curriculum to discuss at length. Project the work again and ask the students to share their one-word reactions to it. S TEP 3: Choose the reactions that you feel will lead the class into a fuller exploration of the w ork. (As the discussion proceeds, try to include each students first reaction into the con v ersation.) T he students initial reactions will lead them to another le v el of under standing of the work. S TEP 4: Allow time so the students can look at the entire painting. At this point begin your lesson. This e x ercise draws students into the work of art by concentrating on parts or details of the work. S TEP 1: Choose a painting from the pac k et that has at least two or three slides of details. It is i m p o r tant that the content in the painting ofyour choice be r e l e vant to the cur r i c u l u m y ou are teaching S TEP 2: Project the details first, one slide at a time. Ask the students to describe what they see. T o spark their curiosity, ask them about clues that allude to objects or e v ents that are not obvious or complete in the projected part. S TEP 3: Allow time so the students can look at the entire painting. Begin your lesson. 98

105 L E S S O N P L A N : L O W E R E L E M E N TA R Y T H E S T O R Y I N A RT P A R T I G R A D E L E V E L Kinder g arten through T hird Grade O B J E C T I V E Students will obser v e how shapes and colors create a narrati v e. Students will analyze a narrati v e presented in three sequential episodes. Students will make individual storybook collages. W O R K O F A RT S LIDE 7 T he Story of Esther b y Marco del Buono Giamberti and A pollonio di Gio v anni di T omaso M A T E R I A L S 6 x 12 in. rectangles of w hite or black construction paper, folded in three equal parts, then laid flat small (appr o ximately 3 x 4 in.) pieces of construction paper in dif f erent colors y arn, hole punch, scissors, glue M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F O R T H E T E AC H E R : S t u d y S L I D E 7 and read the entry. Before this lesson show a photo g raph from a newspaper to the class and discuss how it tells a stor y. Project the slide. Ask the students to look at the painting and describe what they see. Ask students to try to identify the characters that appear more than once. See if t h e s t u d e n t s can figure out the story line. At this point you may want to read or tell the story of Esther .T he key charactersKing Ahasuerus, Esther, and Mordecaican be identified by the shape and color of their hats and costumes. T he story is illustrated in the following sequence: arri v al, ceremon y and banquet. Explain that students will have an opportunity to create their own nar r a t i vew ork of art. R e view the elements of a story with studentsit has a beginning, a middle, and an end, as well as main characters. Ask students to look again at the shapes and colors in the painting and how they work together to tell the stor y. A C T I V I T Y Ask for a student volunteer to model a pose (standing up straight, hands close to the sides, bent o v er, taking a long stride, etc.). Ask the class to notice the shape that the students body makes and perhaps trace it with their finger in the air. Is it a straight shape, a cur v ed shape, a triangle, or some other shape? Ask for another volunteer to tr y a dif f erent pose. T he greatest work of the painter is the i s t o r i a [ n a rr a t i v e ] Fr om Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting

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D i s t r i b ute 6 x 12 in. pieces ofwhite or b l a c k construction paper, folded in thirds. Each panel o f the paper re p r esents an episode ofthe story, its be g i n n i n g middle, or end. Ask students to a rr a n g e their shapes to tell the story, then glue them down. They may wish to glue down other pieces of p a p e r dots from a paper punch, or y a r n to create the bac k g r o u n d Distribute a scissors and three small pieces of construction paper (appr o ximately 3 x 4 in.) to each student. Again, ha v e a volunteer take a pose, but this time ha v e students cut the pose from one of the pieces of construction paper. R e peat until e v er y one has three dif f erent shapes, eac h a dif f erent color Ask the students to pretend that these three shapes are characters and ha v e them make up a stor y.T hey will need to make at least three copies of each shape. T hey should practice arrang ing them to sug g est a beginning, middle, and end. T he teacher may wish to demonstrate this in front of the class. For example: Squig g le Sam walks along the street with Tina T riangle and all of a sudden they bump into roly-poly Roger, and on 106 W hen students are finished, ask them to display the narrati v e artwork they ha v e made and shar e their stories.

L E S S O N P L A N : L O W E R E L E M E N TA R Y I N S I D E A N D O U T S I D E G R A D E L E V E L Kinder g arten through T hird Grade O B J E C T I V E S Students will become a w are of the Renaissance pictorial inno v ation that makes a painting like a window into or through which the viewer can look. Students will make an individual work based on the abo v e idea. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement b y Fra Filippo Lippi S LIDE 6 Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus S LIDES 8, 8 A T he Birth of the V irgin b y Fra Carne v ale M A T E R I A L S D RAWING : paper, marking pens P AINTING : paper, paint, brushes C OLLAGE : paper, colored paper, scissors, glue sticks M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F O R T H E T E AC H E R : Look at the slides and read the entry bef o r e the lesson. Select one of the slides. Following is a sug g ested sequence of questions for S LIDE 4 Ask students to describe what the outside of the school building and the g r ounds look like. T hen ha v e them describe the inside of the building .Ask them: How might they s h o w both the outside and inside ofa b u i l d i n g in one painting or drawing? Project S LIDE 4 Ask students to look at the painting and describe what they see. Gi ve students time to explore the relationship between the couple, then guide the discussion to the composition of the painting, asking the following questions: W hat part of the painting is closest to the viewer? Ask students to describe the frame of the painting and notice the illusion of molding W hat part is farthest a wa y? Ask students to describe the view beyond the windo w. W here is the woman standing? W here is the man standing? W here is the viewerinside or outside the palazz o ?T he viewer is looking into the space or room where the woman is standing, as well as beyond to the scene outside the windo w. Ask students to imagine standing outside their house or a building of their choice. Ask them to imagine looking through a particular window at the space inside. (This could be the students own room, a f a m i l y area, or a special study corner.) 109 I first draw a r e c t a n g le of right angles, w h e r e I am to paint, which I treat just lik e an open window through w hich I might look Fr om Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting

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A C T I V I T I E S Pr o vide drawing, painting, or collage materials so students can make their own inside/outside artwork. For drawing or painting, ask them to measure and draw a windo w leaving some space around the shape to r e present the outside of the building F or collage, pr o vide two dif f erent colors of construction paper in a rectangular or square format, one sheet lar g er than the other. Ask students to glue the smaller sheet to the lar g er sheet. T hen proceed as abo v e. R emind students that the window shape can be filled with objects and e v ents that go on inside the room (for example: a bed, chair, or desk; a figure sitting down, walking, or dancing), and that the area around the window shape is the outside of the building .T his can be illustrated, for example, by depicting the facing or faade of the building (brick or w ood) and farther to the sidewalk, a lamppost, a person walking a dog, or a car E X T E N S I O N S L ANGU A GE A R TS : Ha v e students write a diary or journal entry about what is going on inside the house based on the scene that they ha v e depicted in their artwork. Is it a birthday party, or are the figures studying? Are they listening to music or watching TV? W hat is going on outside the house? Are guests arriving? Is it raining? Do they hear the sounds ofcars or f i r e tr u c ks or crickets c h i r ping? Display the journal writings with the artworks. C ONNECTION : Lesson Plan: T he Story in Art, Part II, p. 153. 110 OR

112 E X P LO R E T H E D E C O R AT I O N O N T H E S U I T O F A R M O R A N D T H E H E L M E T Project S LIDE 27 .T he T udor rose, fleur-de-lys, and double E s tied together refer to Queen Elizabeth Is famil y Sir Geor g e Clif f ord had them engra v ed on his suit of armor to honor her. He was the The Queen s Champion. S T O RY T E L L I N G Project S LIDE 23 .Point out the decoration: Medusas face, the spiraling vines, the a c a n t h u s lea v es, and the small winged putti. T he image of Medusa on the Ne gr oli hel met refers to the myth of P erseus. T he mermaid or siren refers to the section in the Odysse y w here Circe the enchantress warns Odysseus of the sirens po w er Square in your ships path are Sirens, crying Beauty to bewitch men coasting by; Wo e to the innocent who hears the sound! Y ou may want to read one or both stories to your students. W e do not know w h y the nobleman who wore the parade helmet chose these symbols, but w ecan guess that he m a y have wanted to be associated with brav e r y and the her o i c deeds of P erseus and Odysseus. A C T I V I T Y P A R T 1: D E S I G N Y O U R O W N S Y M B O L M A T E R I A L S paper and pencil Ask students to brainstorm and in v ent a personal symbol. How do they want people to r ecognize them? Fr om their gi v en names? W ould they use a letter of their first or last name? Ask if there is a visual equi v alent for their first or last names, for example, Baker, Bush, or Bird. Fr om the place they li v e? W ould they want to incorporate a flag or city logo? For e xample, an apple for New Y ork City Fr om the students personal qualities? W hat are they admired for? Are they neat lik e a cat or faithful like a dog? Do they ha v e a f av orite sport or activity that might be used as a personal symbol? On a sheet of paper, ha v e students draw two or three symbols. Ask them to combine them or r e peat them to form a pattern. T hey may wish to experiment with connecting the decorati v e elements, as the vines and the lo v e knots do on the helmet and suit of armor .T hey will use this pattern to decorate their breastplate or helmet. T UDOR R OSE F LEUR DE LYS D OUBLE E

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113 A C T I V I T Y P A R T II: M A K E A B R E A S T P L AT E A N D BA C K P L AT E A N D / O R H E L M E T M A T E R I A L S for each child, two 12 x 18 in. pieces ofoak tag, or a plain brown gr o c e r y bag, or a l a r ge piece of poster boar d pencils, paint, markers stapler B REASTPLATE : A lar g e paper g r ocery bag may function as a simple piece of armor, with holes cut in the top and sides for the students head and arms. A lar g e sheet of oak tag may be cut into the shape of a breastplate and backplate, and attached o v er the student s shoulders. Students will decorate the front and back ofthe bag or oak tag with their personal s y m b o l s using paint or markers. H ELMET : Distribute two lar g e sheets of oak tag. Ask students to draw the outline of a helmet on one sheet, making sure that they start at one short end and finish at the other short end so that the bottom of the helmet runs along the long edge of their paper and will fit on their head (See illustration.) After they cut the first shape, they should use it as a template to cut the same shape from the second sheet of p a p e r Students will decorate each side of the helmet with their personal symbols in paint or markers. T hen the two sides can be stapled together along the top edge, leaving the bottom edge open to be placed o v er the head. Depending on the ability of each class, you may ask the students to r e peat the same pattern on both sides of the helmet or on the breastplate and backplate, so the patterns match and are symmetrical. E X T E N S I O N S L ANGU A GE A R TS : Students may wish to write a short poem or paragraph about the designs and symbols they chose and w hy. S OCIAL S TUDIES : Compare Renaissance arms and armor with parade uniforms or soldiers battle gear from other eras. W hat symbols or decorations are used for these uniforms? Do particular ribbons or colors ha v e symbolic meanings? R E S O U RC E S Colum, Padraic. The Childr e n s Homer: The A dv e n t u r es of O d ysseus and the Tale ofTr o y New Y ork: Macmillan Publishing Compan y 1918. DAulaire, Ingri, and Edgar Parin. Book of Greek Myths New Y ork: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1962. Fitzgerald, Robert, trans. T he Odyssey of Homer New Y ork: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1963.

L E S S O N P L A N : H U M A N F I G U R E A F O R M TO M E A S U R E G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will study a Renaissance sculpture. Students will study the basic proportions of the human figure through obser v ation and the use of thinking, drawing, and writing skills. Students will ha v e the possibility to use the mathematical formula for the golden section in relation to proportions of the sculpture of Adam byT ullio Lombardo W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 12 Adam byT ullio Lombardo P A GE 93 Battle of the Naked Men b y Antonio Pollaiuolo M A T E R I A L S one photocopy of Adam byT ullio Lombardo for each student, or a printout of this image from the CD-ROM pencils, rulers M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N : D E V I S I N G S Y S T E M S O F M E A S U R E M E N T S F O R T H E T E AC H E R : Since antiquity the human f i g u r e was used as a measure of p ro p o r tion. The Roman engineer V i t r uvius believed that the planning oftemples depended on s y m m e t r y. He calculated an intricate table of proportions of the well-built man and r elated it to the well-designed faade of a building. He said that proportion consisted in taking a fixed module, in each case, both for the parts of a building and for the w hole building 117 Measurement/the human figure, Albrech Drer W all Fountain Simone Mosca M an is the measure of all things. P ro t a g oras (ca. 48010 B C .)

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118 As a young man Albrecht Drer tra v eled to V enice, where the V itruvian proportions were being used and discussed. In V enice, Drer met the painter Jacopo de Barbari. He wrote that de Barbari showed me the f i g u r es ofa man and a woman, w h i c h he had drawn according to a canon of proportions. I was still young and had not heard of suc h a thing before. Ho wev er, I was very fond of art, so I set to work on my own and r ead V itruvius, who writes somewhat about the human figure. T hus, I took m y start from these two men, and thence from day to day I ha v e follo w ed up m y sear c h according to my own notions. D r er spent years studying V i t r uvius. He measured people ofall ages with calipers (a measuring instrument with two legs or jaws that can be adjusted to determine distances b e t w een parts) and made schematic f i g u r e drawings. He attempted to discover ideal beautyb y bringing the parts o f the body into perfect har m o n y with the whole, as an architect does when designing a b u i l d i n g T he ancient Greek sculptor Pol yc litus devised a system of human proportion which was known to Renaissance ar c hitects, sculptors, and painters: that beauty does not consist in the elements but in harmonious proportion of the parts, the proportion of one finger to the other, of all the fingers to the r est of the hand, of the rest of the hand to the wrist, of these to the forearm, of the forearm to the whole arm; of all parts to all others. (As quoted by Erwin Panofsky Meaning in V isual Arts New Y ork: Doubleda y, 1955, p. 64.) M A T H E M AT I C A L F O R M U L A F O R T H E G O L D E N S E C T I O N The golden section, also called the golden mean, r e f ers to a harmonious pr o p o r tional r e l a t i o n s h i p It is defined as a line that is divided in such a w a y that the smaller part is to the lar g er as the lar g er is to the whole. T he golden section is belie v ed to be based on a mathematical formula present in nature and known as the Fibonacci sequence. Numericall y this sequence is 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89, and so on. Each new number of the sequence is generated by adding together the last tw o numbers: 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, etc. An example found in nature would be a f lo w er with 13 petals in one r o wits adjacent r o ws would ha v e 8 or 21 petals. The mathematical f o r mula for the golden section is derived by dividing one number in the Fibonacci sequence by the next highest number. For example, ifyou divide 55 by 89, the quotient is .618. Ifyou divide 34 by 55 the quotient is .618.

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119 A C T I V I T I E S P A R T I Explain that students will work in small groups to devise a measuring system for the pr o p o rt i o n s of the human figure, using a part of the human body as the unit of measurement; for example, a finger, a foot, or a forearm. Rulers m a y not be used. Each group should make diagrams and d r a wings to supporttheir measuring system. Have each group present their system of m e a s u re m e n t to the class. P A R T I I D i s t r i b ute photocopies or printouts of A d a m by T u l l i o L o m b a rd o Ask students to measure the head (from the top of the head to the chin) and use it as a unit of measurement to determine the length of the entire bod y Ask students to r ecord the location of each of these units down the length of the bod y For example, two heads down is the breast, three the waist, etc. P A R T I I I Ask students to measure the photocopy of Adam from head to foot, using a ruler .T hen ask students to multiply the number by .618. Use the product to measure up the dis tance from Adams foot. W here does the point intersect the body? (The ans w er is the na v el, where life begins, or the center of life.) P A R T I V Tw o types of measuring systems ha v e been discussed. Ask students to choose one of the systems to draw a human f igure.

L E S S O N P L A N : H U M A N F I G U R E D R AW I N G T H E H U M A N F I G U R E G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will look closely at Renaissance drawing and printmaking techniques. Students will draw parts ofthe f i g u r e. They will render the parts using both dra w i n g and printmaking techniques. Students will choose from a variety of individual or g r oup extensions. W O R K S O F A RT P A GE 93 Battle of the Naked Men b y Antonio Pollaiuolo S LIDE 11 Study of a Bear W alking by Leonardo da V i n c i S LIDE 12 Adam byT ullio Lombardo S LIDE 13 Adam and Eve b y Albrecht Drer S LIDE 16 Studies for the Libyan Sibyl b y Michelangelo S LIDE 21 P ortrait of aY oung Man b y Bronzino A C T I V I T Y I: U S I N G L I G H T A N D S H A D E TO D E F I N E A F O R M M A T E R I A L S soft black charcoal w hite cont cra y on kneaded erasers drawing paper M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F OR THE T EACHER : Before planning the lesson read the slide entries. Familiarize your self with use of r ed chalk, silverpoint, and engraving techniques. Do not tell students that they are going to draw a figure or sculpture. T he element of surprise is important in the e x ercise. Distribute materials. Ask students to apply charcoal to the entire sheet of paper so that it is co v ered with an e v en dark gray tone. Project S LIDE 12 upside down and unfocused so the image is blur r ed. ( Y ou may c h o o s e a n y slide in w h i c h the f i g u r e or face has sharp contrasts oflight and dark.) Ask students to notice the areas ofwhite in the unfocused image, then to copy these areas by erasing the c h a r coal on the paper. Slo w l y focus the slide so the dark and light areas become c l e a re r P ause so students can either add c h a r coal to make their image darker or continue to erase the charcoal to make it lighter W hen the slide is completely focused the students will see how they ha v e created the f orm of the figure by looking for areas of light and shade. 121 S et y o u r s e l f to practice d r aw i n g only a little eac h da y so that you may not come to lose your taste for it, or get tired of it. From Cennino Cennini, Il Libro dellAr t e ca. 1435

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Contrast the finished drawings with S LIDE 16 Studies for the Libyan Sibyl b y Michelangelo and S LIDE 11 Study of a Bear W alking by Leonardo da V inci. Ask students to notice the use of r ed chalk and silverpoint to render areas of light and shade. A C T I V I T Y II: R E N D E R I N G A N D S H A D I N G A comparison of how lines are used in drawing and in printmaking M A T E R I A L S select and print out two of the following images from the CD-ROM : Battle of the Naked Men b y Pollaiuolo S LIDES 11, 13 and 16 paper drawing pencils (soft and hard leads), pen and India ink soft charcoal, pastel eraser M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Discuss the techniques of drawing and printmaking Ask students to look at S LIDE 13 the engraving of Adam and Eve and ask them to compare the two figures with those in the Battle of the Naked Men How has each artist r endered the volume of the limbs? Ask students to look for the types of lines used to c r eate the illusion ofvolume and to copy diff e r ent examples. Explain the terms hatc h i n g and cross-hatching Ha v e students compare the two engravings, Battle of the Naked Men and Adam and Eve with the drawings, Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and Study of a Bear W alking .W hat dif f erences do they see in the w a y the volume of the limbs and bodies are rendered? Ask students to study and explain the dif f erence between a line made with soft chalk, with silverpoint, and a line made with a burin used in engraving. Ask students to cop y parts of Michelangelos drawing with soft pastel or soft charcoal and then to copy parts of Leonardos drawing or one of the engravings using a pencil or pen and India ink. W hich method do the students prefer? E X T E N S I O N S Ask students to look at Renaissance art books and find engravings they would like to cop y In the Renaissance, apprentices and artists al wa ys copied engravings. Ask students to choose one ofthe paintings in this r e s o u r ce, for example, S L I D E 1 8 T h e Judgment ofParis by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ask them to copy the painting using one of the techniques they have observed. Give them a choice ofpencil, pen and ink, or silv e r point. (Lesson Plans: Gesture, p. 125, and Contrapposto Pose, p. 123) As part of a printmaking class, ha v e students experiment with drawing and shading a f orm with hatching and cross-hatching .T his can be accomplished by carving hatching lines into linoleum blocks, engraving or etching metal plates. (Lesson Plan: Printmaking, p. 191) Ha v e students create a tempera painting or an oil painting of a shaded human form. (Lesson Plan: T empera, p. 185) 122 H AT CHING C R OSS -H AT CHING

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L E S S O N P L A N : H U M A N F I G U R E C O N T R A P P O S T O P O S E G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will recognize and draw the contrapposto pose. Students will create a work of art with a g r oup of f igures in this pose. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 12 Adam byT ullio Lombardo S LIDE 13 Adam and Eve b y Albrecht Drer (engraving) S LIDE 16 Studies for the Libyan Sibyl by Mic h e l a n g elo (dra w i n g ) M A T E R I A L S photocopy of Adam byT ullio Lombardo, one for each student M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Project S LIDE 12 Adam byT ullio Lombardo. If necessar y discuss with the students the d i f f e r ences between a two-dimensional photograph or slide ofa sculpture and the actual three-dimensional sculptures they can see in the museum. Introduce the Italian wor d contrapposto which means opposite or opposing It refers to an ancient Greek pose that creates the illusion of possible mo v ement. In such a pose, the parts ofthe body are ar r a n g ed in balanced but opposing oblique axes. For e x a m p l e : the straight weight-bearing leg (right) is opposed to the bent, relaxed leg (left). T he hip of the weight-bearing leg (right) is raised, and the cor r esponding right shoulder is slightly lo w er .T he vertical axis of the body should relax to a subtle S-cur v e. T he left shoulder twists slightly forward to balance the projection of the right hip Ask students to imitate Adams pose. Can they stand in this pose? Are they balanced? W hich foot is bearing most of their weight? Ask students to lift the foot that is not bearing their weight. W hat happens? Can they stand like that? Discuss what happens to their head, shoulders, and spine. Project S LIDE 13 Adam and Eve b y Albrecht Drer, or gi v e each student a photocopy of the eng r av i n g Now, ask students to assume the pose of D re r s Adam. What is diff e re n t b e t w een the two poses and what is similar? Ask students once again to note and identify the location of the foot that is bearing most ofthe weight. Ask students to note the p o s i t i o n of their shoulders and arms. Is the shoulder o v er the weight-bearing leg lo w er or higher than the other shoulder? 123 B odies themselves mo v e in se v eral w a ys, rising descending and moving from place to place. Fr om Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting

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Ask students which version of Adam creates the illusion of taking up more space? W hich Adam gi v es the illusion of mor e mo v ement or activity? T he wider spread of the arms and legs creates the illusion of more space and mo v ement in a drawing painting, or sculpture. Each Adam is symmetrical and bal anced. Eve also assumes a contrapposto pose. Is she balanced and symmetrical? Ask students to compare the poses of Drer s Adam and Eve and notice the space described by their bodies. G i ve each student a photocopy or printout ofT u l l i o Lombardo s Adam Ask students to cut around the outside of the image, then to fold the image of Adam in half both verti cally and horizontall y. What do the students notice about w h e r e the lines ofthe f o l d s occur in relation to the parts ofthe body? Although the statue is not a rigidly symmetrical composition, the body is di v i d e d c l e a r ly into symmetrical areas. Ask them to note and identify the location ofthe foot that is bearing most ofthe weight. Have students draw action lines at the shoulders, hips, and knees. E X T E N S I O N S Ask students to look at other works of art and to identify e xamples of the contrapposto pose. (Sug g ested images ar e S LIDES 15 21 and 24 .) Ask students to draw at least three f igures in the contrapposto pose. Each figure should relate to each of the others, creating the illusion of mo v ement in space. (Refer to Lesson Plan: Gesture, p. 125.) Ask your students to go to the Ancient Greek Galleries at T he Metropolitan Museum of Ar t and look, sketch, and compare the pose of one of the following sculptures: Diadoumenos Marble Roman copy of Greek original of ca. 440 B.C. Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.78.56) W ounded W arrior Falling Marble Roman Copy of Greek Bronze original of 440 B.C. b y Kresilas, F r ederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1925 (25.116) V eiled and Masked Dancer Greek, 3rd c. B.C., Bronze, Bequest of W alter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.95) This experience will allow your students to understand how the Renaissance artist adopted the contrapposto pose from the ancient Greeks. 124

126 Discuss how the gestures and facial expressions ha v e allo w ed the students as viewers to under stand the emotion, mood, and meaning of the painting. Discuss how the gestures create tension in the painting P A R T III: C H A R A D E S Project either one or two slides, making sure the chosen images ha v e many figures. Divide the c lass into g r oups of fiv e. Each student in each g r oup must select a gesture in the p a i n t i n g T o g ether they will develop a two-minute skit using the g e s t u r es. Allow the students about fifteen minutes to pr e pare. Ha v e each g r oup pantomime their skit. Additional sug g estions: As skits are performed, the rest of the class can sug g est dialogue for the gestures and c o m p a r e the view e r s version with that ofthe actors. After the skits have been perf o r med, students can compare the w a y individuals and g r oups interpreted similar gestures. P A R T I V : W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y Ask students to pick two g e s t u r es from a painting and write a dialogue based on them, dev e l o p i n g the dialogue into a story or journal entr y or a skit. (See Extensions and Lesson Plan: T he Stor y in Art, Part II, p. 153.) P A R T V: G E S T U R E D R AW I N G As a w a r m-up ex e r cise, ask students to quic k l y and loosely draw lines that look like tight spirals or metal springs. Ask for volunteers to pose. Student must take action poses for one minute; for example, the model may pretend to shoot a basket, bend to pick up a flo w er, or stretch. Ask the students to sketch the pose with the spiral lines that c a p t u r e the movement and direction ofthe pose. Ha ve the students sketch at least f iv e poses. Ask students to look closely at the engraving of Battle of the Naked Men b y Pollaiuolo. Ha v e them identify and draw at least f iv e dif f erent positions for each of the following: hands, feet, arms, and legs. E X T E N S I O N S Students may use the pr e vious e x ercises along with their gesture drawings to create their own visual nar r a t i ve as a drawing or painting. Students can identify a moment in one ofthe c h a r a d e s and paint or draw it, using the appropriate gestures.

129 L E S S O N P L A N : P E R S P E C T I V E O V E R L A P P I N G S H A P E S G R A D E L E V E L Elementary and Junior High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will obser v e how o v erlapped shapes create a sense of space as they establish a for egr ound, middle g r ound, and backg r ound. Students will make a collage. T hey will determine the horizon line and define a for egr ound, middle g r ound, and backg r ound. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 1 T he Epiphan y b y Giotto S LIDE 10 Annunciation b y Hans Memling M A T E R I A L S COLLAGE lar g e sheets of colored construction paper; a variety of scraps of dif f erent colored c o n s t r uction paper and other types of p a p e r wallpapers, wrapping papers, mag a z i n e s and photocopies or printouts of the works of art in this pac k et scissors, pencils, glue M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F OR THE T EACHER : R ead the slide entry before planning your lesson. Project S LIDE 1 Ask students to look at and decipher the narrati v e. W h i c h f i g u r es are larger? W h i c h are smaller? Are the larger f i g u r es placed so they ov e rl a p the smaller figures? W here is the stable placed in relation to the figures of the three kings and Joseph? W here is Joseph in relation to the shepherds? W here is the mountain? W here are the angels? W hat is the relation of the horizon line to the sky, mountain, and earth? K eep asking this type of question until the students see that the lar g er f i g u r es are placed in the lower half o f the panel, in fact, they are standing on the g r ound line. Because they are in the f or egr ound they appear to be closer to the viewer .T he for egr ound figures ov erlap the figures in the middle g r ound the shepherds, and Mar y.T he stable and the shepherds o v erlap the gold sky .T he angels are in the sky at the top of the panel. T hey are in the backg r ound and appear to be the figures farthest from the viewer B e it known and clear to w h o ever may read this writing the master Guzon, p a i n t e r has agr e e d to teach n a m e l y the principle ofa p l a n e and to put f i g u r es on the said plane, one here and one there, in various places on the said plane, and place objects, namely a c h a i r benc h or house From Contract betw e e n Master Painter and A p p r entice, 1467. S o u r ce material, p. 85.

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130 A C T I V I T Y Ask students to think of some activities or e v ents in which they ha v e participatedsports ev ents, concerts, dances, nature hikes, visits to the zoo, and so on. Or ha v e students imagine an ev ent in the Florence or Bruges of the Renaissance. Ask students to make up a story that in v olves only two or three figures at the e v ent or activity Ask students to cut their figures from scraps of construction paper, photographs from news papers and magazines, or the photocopies of the works of art. Distribute one lar g e sheet of construction paper to students and ask them to experiment with the placement of their shapes. Ask students to determine the horizon line. W hich shapes should go in back and which in front? (They should glue the backg r ound shapes down first, higher on the paper because they are farther a way.T he next closest shapes can be o v erlapped and placed lo w er on the paper. Finally they should glue down the shapes that are in front, close to the bottom edge of the paper.) E X T E N S I O N S A N D C O N N E C T I O N S Lesson Plans: T he Story in Art, Part I, p. 105, and Part II, p. 153; Gesture, p. 125; Aerial or Atmospheric Perspecti v e, p. 131.

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131 L E S S O N P L A N : P E R S P E C T I V E A E R I A L O R A T M O S P H E R I C P E R S P E C T I V E G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will look at paintings and discuss how aerial perspecti v e is depicted. Students will obser v e and document the atmosphere of the sky during a particular time period and compare their findings with the paintings that use aerial perspecti v e. Students will complete a writing activity W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 2 T he Crucifixion b y Jan van Ey ck S LIDE 5 T he T riumph of F ame b y Sche g gia S LIDE 18 T he Judgment of P aris b y Lucas Cranach the Elder S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s b y Pieter Brue g el the Elder M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F O R T H E T E AC H E R : Read the entries for S L I D E S 2 and 2 5 b e fo r e planning y our lesson. Aerial perspecti v e creates a sense of depth by imitating the ef f ect of the atmosphere: objects look paler and sometimes bluer the farther a wa y they are from the viewer Scientific analysis shows us that the presence of dust and large moisture par t i c les in the a t m o s p h e r e causes some scattering of the light that passes through them. T he amount of scattering depends on the w av elength of the light. Blue light can pass through the mist caused by dust and moisture particles, and this is w h y the sky appears to be blue and fara wa y mountains light gra y blue, or purplish in color Project S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s In a class discussion, ask students to describe what they see. (The backg r ound on the left side of the painting appears to be co v ered in a haze. T he color is a mixture of y ello w white, and beige. T he eye cannot decipher details, thus the atmosphere creates an illusion of distance or space.) Project S LIDE 2 T he Crucifixion Ask students to look at and describe aerial or atmos pheric perspecti v e. I s a w above me the dark sky, and the sun as it fell on the mountain was far brighter h e r e than in the plains below, because a smaller extent of the atmosphere lay betw e e n the summit ofthe mountain and the sun. Leonardo da V inci As quoted by A. Ric h a r d T u r ner in The Vision of L a n d s c a p e in Renaissance Italy Princeton, N J 1966.

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132 O B S E R VA T I O N A N D D O C U M E N T A T I O N A C T I V I T I E S M A T E R I A L S Polaroid camera, colored pencils or Craypas paper V I S UA L A C T I V I T Y I T IME : At least one week, about 20 minutes per da y. Ask students to document the skys appearance for one week. Each day at a set time they should look at the sky from the same place. Mornings and e v enings are preferable to the middle of the day because the sky is usually clearer when the sun is not at its height. Pollution also will af f ect the color of the sky. If cameras are a v ailable, students can take photographs of the sky .T hey will see how the color and density of the sky change. Students can use colored pencils or Craypas to translate their photographs into drawings. V I S UA L A C T I V I T Y I I T I M E :At least one day, four diff e r ent times during the day, at least five or ten minutes each time. Ask students to go outside and select an object in the distance. T hroughout the day ha v e them r ecord the object, either with a camera (preferab l y a Polaroid camera) or with colored pencils or Craypas .T he students will notice how atmospheric conditions af f ect the object. Does it c hange color? Is its shape al wa ys distinct? W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y I Link perspective in art to ones placement in a scene. How does placement affect what one sees? Ask students to write a story from the perspective ofone ofthe f i g u r es in The Harvesters ( S L I D E 2 5 ) W rite from the perspecti v e of someone in town, someone in the field, someone under a tree. Other slides that you might want to try ar e S LIDES 2 6 8 and 15 W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y I I Ask students to imagine their f av orite place. T hen ask them to imagine they are using a camera and describe the pictures they are taking at diff e r ent distances. Ask them to write three parag r a p h s Ask students to imagine taking a photograph of the place from a long distance. Can they see the whole place? W hat kinds of details can they see from far a wa y? T hen ask them to mo v e closer, to midrange. W hat kinds of details can they see? How has the lar g er picture changed? Finall y ask the students to imagine taking a close-up of the place. W hat part do they see? Ask them to describe the details. After either writing activity return to one of the paintings. For example, project S LIDE 2 T he Crucifixion b y Jan van Ey c k. Ask students to identify where van Ey c k placed himself .T hen ask them to imagine that the perspecti v e is dif f erent. W hat details would they change? How? W hat details would stay the same? Ask them to explain their decisions by writing a parag r a p h d e s c r i b i n g the painting from this new perspecti v e.

136 P A R T I: F I N D I N G T H E V A N I S H I N G P O I N T M A T E R I A L S paper, pencil, ruler photocopy of S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement b y Fra Filippo Lippi Gi v e each student a photocopy of the portrait, a r uler, and a pencil. Ask them to extend the diagonal lines created by the ceiling and the window elements, and find the point at which they con v er g e. T his is the v anishing point Ask students to make up their own definition for linear one-point perspecti v e. P A R T I1: D E M O N S T R AT E H O W L I N E A R O N E P O I N T P E R S P E C T I V E W O R K S M A T E R I A L S Polaroid camera and a long hall Stand at one end of a long hall or room and take a photograph of the space. Ha v e the class look at the photograph and notice how the side walls appear to con v er g e. Ask students to stand in the middle of the front end of the classroom. Mark the center of the back wall. T hen ask students to: Look at where the back wall meets the ceiling and floor. Imagine a horizon line drawn at ey e le v el across the back wall. Look at the doors and windows in relation to the horizon line. Back at their desks, gi v e students paper and the worksheet.

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137 W O R K S H E E T Ask students to draw a horizon line that divides the paper in halfand to place the vanishing point at the center ofthe horizon line. Draw the back wall of the room as a rectangle or squar e centered on the page. Draw the lines of the side walls to meet at the back wall and form the ceiling and floor Drop a line at the vanishing point that is perpendicular to the top and bottom of the paper and parallel to the sides of the paper Ask students to draw a pattern of square tiles or slats on the floor. Add windows and doors. Make sure students f ollow the directional lines that join the walls to the f loor and the ceiling to the walls. Furniture and people can be added.

139 C O M P O S I T I O N C H E C K L I S T Luca Pacioli, an Italian mathematician who often worked with Leonardo da V inci, said that the ancient Greeks disco v ered the perfect cir c le and the square in the proportions of the human bod y and that they used this harmonious system to design their temples. T he Renaissance artists follo w ed the ancients system of harmon y proportion, and beauty in their ar c hitectur e and in the composition of their sculptures and paintings. T he g olden mean also known as the g olden section is a system of proportion de v eloped by the ancient Greeks that establishes a harmonic ratio between two unequal parts. T he V itruvian Man Leonardo da V inci Alinari/Art Resource, N .Y F aade of Santa Maria Novella Leon Battista Alberti Foto Marb u rg / A r t R e s o u r ce, N Y Measurement/the human f igure, Albrecht Drer S LIDE 14 Madonna and Child Enthroned by Saints Raphael W all Fountain Simone Mosca S LIDE 5 T he T riumph of F ame Sche g gia Symmetry and balance create a harmonic relationship between parts of a composition.

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141 L E S S O N P L A N : C O M P O S I T I O N C L A S S I C A L C O M P O S I T I O N G R A D E L E V E L High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will plot out a classical composition. Students will compare the same composition in arc h i t e c t u r e and painting. Students will see how one part relates to another part and how all the parts relate to the whole work. W O R K S O F A RT P A GE 145 Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints b y Raphael ( S LIDE 14 ) P A GE 143 W all Fountain ca. 1528; Simone Mosca, Ar e zzo, gray sandstone, h. 16 ft. 3 in., w. 12 ft. 9 1/2 in. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1971 (1971.158) M A T E R I A L S a photocopy or printout of the two works of art for each student one sheet of acetate paper per student thin felt-tip marker r uler M O T I V A T I O N D I S C U S S I O N A N D A C T I V I T Y S T E P 1: Distribute photocopies of the W all Fountain p. 143. Ha v e students cut a wa y the white border of the image and fold it in half lengthwise. T he fold should start at the middle of the acanthus l e a f at the top ofthe f o u n t a i n go through the center niche and middle o f the spout and basin, and divide the f o u n t a i n into two symmetrical halves. Ask students to fold the paper in half widthwise. T he midpoint is described by the ar c hitectural ledge that crosses the bottom of the lar g e niche and g o es abo v e the small niches in the wings. Ask the students to place the acetate sheet over the photocopy. With aruler and a f e l t tip pen have them trace both the v e r tical and horizontalf old lines. Ask students to trace the important vertical lines: the edge of the conca v e wall the columns C omposition is that rule of painting by whic h the parts of the things seen f it together in the painting Fr om Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting

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142 Ask the students to trace the important horizontal lines: the line f o r med at the top ofthe columns and the bottom ofthe entab l a t u r e the line that runs along the bottom ofthe central arch and under the gr o t e s q u e s the ar c hitectural ridge that g o es along the top of the basin and the bottom of the columns Ha v e students discuss and analyze w h y the composition of this fountain is harmonious. It is symmetrical. T he vertical elements define spaces that are in proportion to each other (the wings to the center and the center to the wings). T he horizontal elements do the same thing An alternating pattern of r ecessing and projecting elements is established from the outer wings to the columns to the conca v e wall. T he vertical and horizontal elements form a square in the center of the fountain. S T E P 2 : Gi v e each student a photocopy of the painting by Raphael, p. 145 Ask the students to place the acetate sheet with the lines from the wall f o u n t a i n ov er the pho tocopy of this painting Line up the vertical and horizontal midpoint lines. T he vertical midpoint should run from God through the Madonna. T he horizontal midpoint should line up with the top of the heads of the female saints. T he male saints are placed in the same relation to the female saints as the columns and the edge of the conca v e wall on the fountain. The main focal elements ofboth the fountain and the altarpiece are contained in the center square. T he square encloses the Madonna, Christ, and John the Baptist. E X T E N S I O N S L ESSON P LANS : Draw the Golden Rectangle, p. 147, and A Form to Measure, p. 117. Ask students to visit the Ancient Greek Galleries in T he Metropolitan Museum of Art and look for the Calyx-krater, terracotta technique (potter: Euxitheos; painter: Euphronios), Attica, ca. 515 B.C. (1972.11.10) (Location: T he Bothmer Gallery I). Ask them to look at the scene with T he Death of Sarpedon Ha v e them compare the composition of the scene to the e x ercise abo v e with the Raphael and the Mosca. T hey will see the similarity in the composition and understand how it was adopted in the Renaissance.

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Fold Fold Fold Fold143 Fold Fold Fold Fold

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L E S S O N P L A N : C O M P O S I T I O N D R A W T H E G O L D E N R E C TA N G L E G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will construct a golden rectangle. Students will use the golden rectangle as a composition in a painting M A T E R I A L S paper, ruler, compass paint and brushes M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N T he golden mean, or section, refers to a harmonious proportional relationship that has been known at least since the time of the fourth-centur y B C Greek geometer Euclid. S t r i c t l y, it is defined as a line divided in such a way that the smaller part is to the larg e r as the lar g er is to the whole. A C T I V I T Y 1, C O N S T RU C T A G O L D E N R E C TA N G L E Distribute the worksheet and ha v e students experiment with drawing the golden r ectangle. Ha v e students draw or paint a picture on a piece of paper they ha v e cut in the proportions of a golden rectangle. T hey may include golden rectangles as part of their composition; for example, doorw a ys, buildings, windows. Students may use a computer drawing program to construct a golden rectangle. T hey may position it o v er scanned images of R enaissance paintings or use it to construct a composition oftheir own. When they resize the golden r e c t a n g le, they should be car e f u l not to change its proportions. 147 G eometry has two g r eat treasures; one is the T heorem of Pythagorus; the other the division of a line into extreme and mean r a t i o The first we may c o m p a r e to a measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel. Fr om Johannes K e pler 1571

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148 W O R K S H E E T 1 1. Draw a horizontal line appr o ximately 7 or 8 inches long .T his is called the baseline. 2. On the left edge of the baseline draw a 3-inch square. 3. Divide the square in half v erticall y.Y ou should ha v e two vertical rectangles. 4. In the right rectangle draw a diagonal line that starts at the lo w er-left corner and g o es to the upper-right corner 5. Using the length ofthe diagonal as the radius, draw an arc that meets the baseline. In other w o r ds, place a compass point on the diagonal line w h e r e the line intersects the baseline. Place the pencil point ofthe compass at the other end ofthe diagonal w h e r e it intersects the u p p e r -right corner ofthe square. Draw an arc from the top right corner to the baseline. 6. Draw a vertical line up from where the arc intersects the baseline and extend the horizontal line forming the top right of the square to intersect with the vertical line. T his is a golden rectangle.

152 N A R R AT I V E F O R M AT S In retelling a story the artist selects a moment or sequence of ev ents. T he paintings below illus trate the presentation of stories in three formats: S E QU E N T I A L F O R M A T : S L I D E 7 The Story of E s t h e r This is a rectangular panel, painted for a chest. The f o r mat for telling the story is like a comic strip divided into three frames. T he story begins on the left and prog r esses sequentiall yto the right. S I N G L E M O M E N T F O R M A T : S L I D E 18 The Judgment ofP a r i s P aris a w akes in a timeless setting, to see the three goddesses placed before him. In a single moment, the essence of the mythParis s judgmentis r ev ealed. S LIDE 8 T he Birth of the V irgin, F ra Carne v ale S LIDE 7 T he Story of Esther Marco del Buono and Apollonio di Gio v anni S LIDE 18 T he Judgment of P aris Lucas Cranach the Elder C O N T I N U O U S F O R M A T : S L I D E 8 The Birth ofthe V i rg i n In this painting the main e v ent is inte g rated into the rituals of dail y life. T he viewer is invited to enjoy both the life inside and outside the palazzo. Even though the infant Mary is in the center of the panel the focus is not directly on her

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L E S S O N P L A N : N A R R AT I V E T H E S T O R Y I N A RT P A R T I I G R A D E L E V E L Upper Elementar y Junior High, and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will look at Renaissance nar r a t i ve paintings. They will study diff e r ent f o rm a t s used to present the narrati v e in painting Students will be asked to freeze moments in stories. T hey will sketch and write the stories, working in g r oups or individuall y. Students may choose to design a narrati v e to fit onto a box or a plate. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 5 T he T riumph of F ame b y Sche g gia (circular format) S LIDE 6 Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus S LIDE 7 T he Story of Esther b y del Buono and Apollonio S LIDE 8 T he Birth of the V irgin b y Fra Carne v ale S LIDE 15 A Hunting Scene b y Piero di Cosimo S LIDE 18 T he Judgment of P aris b y Lucas Cranach the Elder S LIDE 20 P y r amus and T h i s b e on the Broth Bowl (circular f o rm a t ) S LIDE 24 T he Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes byT intoretto S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s b y Pieter Brue g el the Elder M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F OR THE TEACHER : Look at all the slides and read the slide entries befor eplanning the lessons and familiarize y o u r s e l f with the stories in the paintings. How does an artist decide what moments in a story he or she will depict? Ask students to think of a movie they ha v e seen or a no v el they ha v e read. Tell them to fr e e ze a moment in the movie or novel. Discuss the e x p e r i e n c e noting the dif f iculties. Depending on the time and your goals, you can ha v e the students sketch the moment. If y ou wish to extend the lesson, ha v e them also sketch the moment before and the moment after .T hey now ha v e sketched a story that has a beginning, middle, and end, or three sequential moments. Once again discuss the experience and the dif f iculties. Select two or three slides and project. As students look at an image, help them focus on the stor y Ask students to identify the action and the most important characters, and to guess the story line. Ask students to analyze the composition of each painting and compare the format of the story line. See checklist, p. 152. Ask students to identify the f o r egr o u n d m i d dle gr o u n d and b a ck g r o u n d o f e a c h ar t w ork. 153 T he greatest work of the painter is the i s t o r i a [ n a rr a t i v e ] Fr om Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting

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T he stories in S LIDES 7 and 8 are r e presented as if they were taking place in fifteenth-centur y Ital y.T his is reflected in the ar c hitecture, customs, and costumes. Ask students to imagine one o f these stories in a tw e n t i e t h c e n t u r y setting. What would be similar? What would be diff e re n t ? Or add a science-fiction element and ask the students to imagine the story in the future. A C T I V I T Y I, C R E AT E A S T O R Y M A T E R I A L S lar g e sheets of paper P AINTING AND D RAWING : paints, brushes, markers, pencils, or chalk C OLLAGE : colored and patterned paper, scissors, glue, rulers Ask students to select a story or myth, or ask students to make up a story or retell an event, or use the ex e r cise suggested in the m o t i v a t i o n Students will paint, draw, or make a collage in one of t h e s u g gested f o rm a t s : Structure the story line like a comic book, with at least three sequential sectionsa beginning a middle, and an endwith the central character appearing in each section. Set the story in a composition that has a for egr ound, middle g r ound, and backg r ound to sho w the narrati v e in a continuous format. A C T I V I T Y II, R E T E L L A S T O R Y M A T E R I A L S paper, pencil Select one painting for students to use as a reference for a sequential or continuous narrati v e, f or example, S LIDE 6 Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus. Ask students to imagine what happened before the couple entered the goldsmiths shop, what is happening in the present either in or out of the shop, and what might happen after the couple lea v es the shop. Other possibilities ar e S LIDES 18 and 24 Ask students to write or sketch the three episodes. If they choose to write, they can de v elop dialogue for the characters. Refer to Activity I if students wish to create an artwork. A C T I V I T Y III, G R O U P P R O J E C T : D E C O R AT E A T R E A S U R E C H E S T B A C KG RO U N D In the Renaissance a c a s s o n e often a wedding chest, was an essential piece of f u rn i t u r e, a re p o s i t o r y for the f a m i ly s most precious possessions. Often it held the brides tr o u s s e a u The sides and front panels w e r e painted. The front panel was designed to give pleasure and, i n d i re c t l y, to educate the small c h i l d r en who played on the floor and looked at the painted panels. The subjects ofthe panels are usually biblical, mythological, or historical and many f eature female protagonists. T he side panels usually had the family s coat of arms or personal d e vices or symbols. 154

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M A T E R I A L S paper, pencils, rulers w hite gesso, acrylic paint, brushes magic markers r efrigerator box or a lar g e box the size of an actual chest M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F OR THE T EACHER : R ead S LIDE ENTR Y 7 Update the concept of achest to a trunk, such as a c o l l e ge trunk, army trunk, or camp trunk. Ask students to brainstorm what materials this tr u n k might hold. Ask students to imagine what the next phase of their life will be like, what worries they would be leaving behind from this phase, and what they might need when entering this new phase of life. Use one of the pr e vious writing activities. T hen show students a photograph of a Renaissance chest. Discuss their form in relation to their function. Wh y did owners or patrons want their chests decorated with narrati v e scenes? Ask students to brainstorm how the r e f r i g erator box could be turned into a chest or R e n a i s s a n c e c a s s o n e When students have come to a decision, they should then paint the entire exposed surf a c e with white acrylic g e s s o This must dry bef o r e the next step. T hrough class discussion the students and teacher can decide where and how each scene should be positioned on the box, as well as which colors to use. Students can be divided into smaller groups. Each group can concentrate on one ofthe scenes. Ask a few students to sk e t c h the o u t l i n e of the narrati v e, and let a few students at a time paint on their scene. A C T I V I T Y I V I N D I V I D UA L P R O J E C T : D E C O R AT E A B OX M A T E R I A L S shoe bo x es or other small bo x es magic markers, paper and pencils, scissors M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N ( R E F E R TO A C T I V I T Y I I I ) Ask students to decorate the outside of their box with scenes that r e present an aspect of their identity they want the outside world to see. Ask students to think of items they would need or want for the next phase of their life. T hey can put these items into the box. Or, they may want to make a treasure box full of inner secret thoughts. Ask the students to sketch the items on separate sheets of paper, mold them from c la y clip them from magazines, etc., and then put them into the box. Ask students when they ha v e finished if they wish to share their bo x es. 155

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A C T I V I T Y V, I N D I V I D UA L P R O J E C T : D E C O R AT E A P L AT E M A T E R I A L S paper plates or precut cir c les magic markers M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F OR THE TEACHER : R ead the slide entries for S LIDES 5 and 20 before the lesson. Both objects w ere made to celebrate the birth of a child. Project the slides. Ask students to explore the narrati v e told within the format of a cir c le. Ask the students to notice the use of symmetr y Does it add to the narrati v e? How does the stor y f it into the circular shape? Refer to the first two activities in this lesson plan, to de v elop the stor y. D i s t r i b ute plates or paper cut in circles and ask students to draw a nar r a t i ve alleg o r i c a l pictur e within the circular shape. T hey may wish to write a sentence about their image around the edg e of the plate or cir c le, or they may wish to place a personal symbol somewhere on the plate. E X T E N S I O N S T HEATER A R TS : Dramatize one of the paintings by presenting it either as a short skit or a pla y, with dialogue based on student obser v ations; or stage a tableau vivant with students setting up a stage, then silently holding the poses of the figures in the painting (Lesson Plan: Gesture, p 125). 156

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157 L E S S O N P L A N : N A R R AT I V E A W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will e x p l o r e the similarities and diff e r ences between written and visual languag e Students will compose a written work using the skills of obser v ation, description, and narration. Students will analyze the aesthetic and social content of one painting W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 15 A Hunting Scene b y Piero di Cosimo S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s b y Pieter Brue g el the Elder S LIDE 29 V iew of T oledo b y El Greco M A T E R I A L S Use color postcards or printouts from the enclosed CD R OM of one or more of the w orks of art. Cut each image into three or four equal sections. A C T I V I T Y : W R I T I N G E X E RC I S E 20 M I N U T E S 1. Divide the class into three or four g r oups or into g r oups of three or four students. Gi v e each g r oup or each student in the g r oup one of the thirds or quarters of the image. Each g r oup or each person will look at their section and not show it to the other g r oups or to the other students in their g r oup 2. T he students working in the lar g er g r oup may wish to appoint a recorder to write down their obser v ations and a spokesperson to share their description with the whole c lass. 3. Ask students to write a paragraph using the following skills: O BSER VA TION Ask students to look closely at their section of the image and list the details they obser v e. Sug g ested questions include: W hat do you see? Note colors, shapes, and sizes. W hom do you see? Individuals? Groups? W hat are they doing? W here are they located? D ESCRIPTION Ask the g r oups to notice the atmosphere in their section of the image. W hat feelings are sug g ested by the atmosphere? W hich details dominate their section? W hat aspects or qualities of these details e v oke particular feelings? Describe the activity, landscape, or motion in the section. See writing e x ercise in Lesson Plan: Aerial or Atmospheric Perspecti v e, p. 131. N ARRATION E n c o u r a g e students to imagine dialogue between the people in their section ofthe image, if a p p ro p r i a t e O n his journeys Brue g el did many views from nature so that it was said of him, when he tra v eled through the Alps, that he had s w allo w ed all the mountains and rocks and spat them out again, after his return, onto his can v ases and panels, so closely was he able to follow nature. Fr om Carel van Mander T he Painers Book, 1604

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158 4. W hen the written work is finished, ha v e the g r oups come together and ask the spokesperson f or each g r oup to read their paragraph aloud. Ask students to brainstorm and collaboratively combine the parag r a p h s into a unified composition. W hich paragraph should come first, w hich last? Do any obser v ations show up in all four paragraphs? In only one paragraph? 5. Place the three or four sections of the painting together or project the slide. Ask students to identify the w a ys the painter united the three or four sections of the work. How is this sim ilar or dissimilar to the w a y the students connected their four paragraphs? How did the painter use the skills of obser v ation, description, and narration?

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L E S S O N P L A N : L A N G U A G E A R T S P O E T I C F O R M S G R A D E L E V E L Elementary through High School A number of R enaissance poetic forms lend themselves to exploring the imagery and meaning behind works of art. T he following lesson plans sug g est w a ys in which close looking can lead to a writing activity based on one of the poetic forms. In most cases, a simplified version for y o u n g er students is included, as well as an expanded, more c o m p re h e n s i ve v ersion for older students. O B J E C T I V E S Students will look at and discuss works of art from the Renaissance. Students will discuss a Renaissance literary form. Students will create an original written work based on one of the works of art. A C RO S T I C The w o r d a c ro s t i c comes from the Greek a c ro s ( o u t e r most) and s t i ch o s (line of p oe t r y). W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 17 Erasmus of R otterdam b y Hans Holbein the Y ounger S LIDE 21 P ortrait of aY oung Man b y Bronzino B A C KG RO U N D A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E S T he poetic form of the acrostic originated in ancient times and was used in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin literature. T he English poets Geoffrey Chaucer (1342) and Ben Jonson (1572), and the Italian writer Gio v anni Boccaccio (1312) all wrote acrostics. In England especiall y acrostics often were written on the name Eliza, r eferring to Queen Elizabeth I. F ollowing are a few quotes from Baldassare Castiglione s Book of the Courtier on the beha vior and appearance of ele g ant young men at court. T hese quotes may be read aloud or distributed to inspire questions and reactions f or the class discussion. A man should al wa ys be a little more humble than his rank requires. Another person re p l i e s F or m y s e l f I know none who have risen thr o u g h modesty I am al wa ys pleased when clothes tend to be sober and restrained rather than foppish; so it seems to me that the most ag r eeable color is b lack. I would add that [a young man] should decide for himself w hat appearance he wants to have and what sort ofman he wants to seem M O T I V A T I O N A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E S F OR THE TEACHER : Select one portrait and read the slide entr y If y ou choose Erasmus, there is additional material in Lesson Plan: Erasmus of R otterdam, p. 179. 159 N ot marble nor the gilded monuments O f princes, shall outlive this p o werful rh y m e Fr om W illiam Shakespeare, Sonnet 55, 1609

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160 Project S LIDE 21 the Bronzino portrait of an unknown young man. (The young man is thought to ha v e been a poet and perhaps a friend of the painter.) Gi v e students f ive minutes to look and write down a one-word reaction to the person in the portrait. Ask students to share their one-word reactions. How many of these reactions are in response to the y oung man s attitude? Discuss attitude and how it is con v eyed in the portrait through posture, f acial expression, clothing, and other details. Ask students what they think about the young man. Does he ha v e many friends? Wh y or w hy not? Do we know what he likes to do? How would you describe his clothes? W hat about the colors? Wh y might Bronzino ha v e placed the young man in such a nar ro w space? W hat do you think Bronzinos opinion of the young man might be? Wh y do you think so? A helpful clue is to ha v e students compare the young man s face to the g r otesques car v ed on the table and chair W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y Ask each student to write vertically on a piece of paper the word selected to define the young man. If they chose the wor d ALOOF they would write it like this: A L O O F Explain the poetic f o r m ofthe acrostic and read some examples. Writing a collaborative v e r s i o n on the board may help students visualize this form. T he subject of the students poems should be the young man, and each phrase or sentence of the poem should relate to him. For example, A is the first letter, so the first word and line of the poem must start with A ; the second, L and so on. A quiet young man, L ooking at me, at m y O r dinary clothes. O b viously he F inds me boring Older students may want to figure out an abab rhyme scheme, but younger students can just fill out the lines, using as many words as they like. W hen students ha v e finished, ask them to read their poems to the class. Make sure the portrait is displa y ed so that students can compare their r eactions to the visual image. Discuss how individual perceptions of the young man var y. Two days after this lesson ask students to r e t u r n to look at the portrait and see iftheir r e a c t i o n s or ideas ha v e changed.

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161 E X T E N S I O N S V ISUAL A R TS : Students may wish to transfer their acrostics to special drawing paper, embel lishing and enlarging the first letter of each line by adding color or decoration to make it stand out. This could be part ofa callig r a p h y lesson. Students can type their acrostic into a w o r d p r ocessing or paint pr o g ram, then manipulate fonts, colors, and bac k g rounds to create an e l e c t ro n i c v ersion of their acrostic. Students may wish to import the portrait image from the C D R OM into PhotoShop, then into HyperStudio, and create links to their electronic acr o s t i c s L A N G U A G E A R T S : Additional acrostics, some from students around the country, are posted on the W orld W ide Web Students may wish to read some of these acrostics, or perhaps submit their o wn acrostics on this site. S O C I A L S T U D I E S : Students can use their one-word reaction to identify objects or features of the twentieth century that the person in the portrait might like to know about. For example, Erasmus might want e-mail he would be surprised by a r adio an airplane ride, and subways He w ouldn t know that Mazda is a kind of car, he would find out about uranium and he might be shoc k ed by the Spice Girls E C LO G U E A N D P A S TO R A L The w o r d e cl o g u e comes from an ancient Greek w o r d meaning select piece.T he wor d pastoral comes from pastor the Latin word for shepherd. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s b y Pieter Brue g el the Elder S LIDE 29 V iew of T oledo b y El Greco B A C KG RO U N D A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E S An eclogue is a poem written in the style ofa monologue or dialogue, and persuasive in c h a r a c t e r Writers of e c logues set f o r th particular themes, explaining how they feel about the subject, why they feel the way they do, and why others should feel the same way. Usually the setting is pastoral, or r u r a l Examples from classical antiquity may be usedTheocritus (Greek, ca. 310 B C ) and V i r gil (Roman, 7019 B C .). The English poet Edmund Spenser (1552/531599) wrote a c a l e n d a r of twelve pastoral eclogues, one for each month of the year; when it was published, it w as illustrated with the signs of the zodiac. Pastoral poems depict an imaginary and ideal life in the country, sometimes filled with she p h e rd s shepherdesses, and nymphs. One of the most famous pastoral poems of the Renaissance is Christopher Marlo w es (1564) T he Passionate Shepherd to His Love Sir W alter Raleigh s (1554) ans w er to this poem, T he Nymphs R e ply to the Shepher d takes the same form as Marlo w es poem, but mocks its romantic subject matter

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162 M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N D i s p l a y one ofthe slides and ask students to describe what they see. Ask students to pretend to be one ofthe people in the painting, or a particular passerbya townsperson, a trav e l e r a v i s i t o r f r om another country, a w e a l t h y patron or member ofa court, or a peasant, a monk or nun, a child, etc. They may pretend to be an artist or Br u e gel himselfwho was supposed to have dr e s s e d as a peasant in order to observe their f e s t i vities. W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y E LEMENTAR Y : Ask students to write a description of the scene from a particular point of view; f or example, their accounts can be written as if they were foreign tra v elers writing in a diary or journal. Refer to the Drer journal entry in Source Material, p. 83, and to the Lesson Plan: Aerial or Atmospheric Perspecti v e, p. 131. J UNIOR H IGH AND H IGH S CHOOL : Introduce the literary forms of eclogue and pastoral, t h e n ask students to write their own version ofone ofthese poems based on their observations of one ofthe paintings. An eclogue can take the f o r m ofsocial commentary, a conv e r s a t i o n b e t w een two people, or a satire. For example, one ofthe w o r k ers may boast about the y e a r s h a r vest. A merchant or housewife might speculate about the price ofgrain. A c h u r c h m a n might praise the virtues of h a r d work in his parishioners. A w e a l t h y man or woman who has servants might be amused or repelled by the hard physical life ofthe peasants. Read the f o l l o wing quote to illustrate how peasant life was viewed by two young cour t i e r s Fr om T he Book of the Courtier: P a l l a vicino: Many ofour young gentlemen are to be found, on holidays, dancing all day in the open air with the peasants, and taking part with them in sports such as thr o wing the bar, wrestling, running and jumping. And Im sure there is no harm in this, for the contest is not one ofnobility but of s t r ength and agility, reg arding which ordinary villagers are often just as good as nobles; and I think this kind offamiliar behaviour has a certain c h a r ming open-mindedness about it. F ederico: If an y one is anxious to wrestle, to run or to jump with peasants, then he ought, in my opinion, to do it casuall y out of noblesse oblige, so to sa y and certainly not in competition with them; and he should be almost certain of win ning, or else not take part at all, for it is too sad and shocking, and quite undig nified, when a gentleman is seen to be beaten by a peasant. Copies of T he Passionate Shepherd to His Love b y Christopher Marlo w e and T he Nymphs R e ply to the Shepher d b y Sir W alter Raleigh may be distributed to students as examples of persuasi v e writing and a r eb uttal. Students may work in pairs to create opposing views in their eclogues. E X T E N S I O N S T HEATER A R TS : P aint a lar g e mural or backdrop of one of the paintings, omitting the f o r eground f i g u r es. Actors re p r esenting these f i g u r es could perf o r m dialogues, or they could r e a d their eclogues or pastorals. Various other characters (Br u e gel himself, the cour t i e r etc.) could pass the group and present their journal entries or poems, commenting on the scene.

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163 S OCIAL S TUDIES : Find the Netherlands on a globe or w o r ld map and look at a time line of major political events during the time of B ru e gel. Discuss the significance ofthe harvest in general and especially during the Spanish embargo. M USIC : During the Renaissance, folk music was collected and arranged for the skilled amateur to perform. Listen to recordings of Michael Praetorius s T erpsichor e ,T hoinot Arbeau s Or c hesog r aphy or T ielman Susato s Danseyr e or music for the virginal or clavichord b yW illiam Byrd. W ORLD L ITERATURE : In literature, the peasant was often a comic figure, especially in the work of F ranois Rabelais, Miguel de Cer v antes, and W illiam Shakespeare. Students might wish to read these writers and identify similarities in the ways peasants w e r e depicted. F or example, in A Midsummer Nights Dream the peasant actors present an inad v ertent parod y or a humorous ver sion, of the tragic story of Pyramus and T hisbe. V ISUAL A R TS /L ITERATURE : T he Harvester s is part of a series of paintings by Pieter Brue g el depicting the seasons. Students may wish to resear c h and identify the other paintings of this series, then create their own ar t w orks ofpeople in landscape settings engaging in seasonal a c t iv i t i e s F or literature extensions, younger students can read poems connected with the labors of the months. Older students can read V irgil s Georgics which link the labors of the months with specific constellations and their rotations; this poem has been linked with the subject matter of T he Harvester s as well as with El Greco s V iew of T oledo E P I T H A L A M I U M An e p i t h a l a m i u m or e p i t h a l a m i o n (plural: e p i t h a l a m i a ), a Greek w o r d meaning upon the bridal c h a m b e r is a kind of poem originally performed at weddings in honor of the bride and g r oom. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement b y Fra Filippo Lippi S LIDE 6 Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus S LIDE 7 T he Story of Esther b y Marco del Buono and Apollonio di Gio v anni B A C KG RO U N D A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E Although marriage songs and poems exist in many cultures, the epithalamium as a literary for m is identified with the Greek poet Sappho, who li v ed around 600 B C Catullus, a Roman poet, also wrote epithalamia, both in an ele v ated, ceremonial style and a pri v ate, lyrical style. T he English poet Ed w ard Spenser (1552) wrote Epithalamion a long poem that can be read as an example for students. T here is no fixed form for an epithalamium; it may ha v e rhyme and meter, but not necessaril y. In general, it is a long poem that describes a specific mar r i a g e. It details the events ofthe w e d d i n g da y including pr e parations, processions, and music; it may praise the bride and groom and tell about their individual virtues and the status oftheir families. It usually ends with good wishes and blessings for the couple.

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164 M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Project the three slides, one at a time, and ask students to describe what they see. After eac h slide has been discussed, ask students what these works of art ha v e in common. Guide t h e o b s e r vations to couples and mar r i a g e. (One inter p r etation ofthe two paintings of c o u p l e s is that they w e r e created to document and celebrate mar r i a g es. The Story of E s t h e r not only depicts a w e d d i n g but at one time it decorated a cassone or chest, that was often a wedding gift in itself.) W hat did marriage mean in the Renaissance? Despite all the poems and songs about lo v e, i m p o r tant mar r i a g es between powerful families w e r e larg e l y business transactions, a merger of two dynasties. Dowries, gifts of money, commemorati v e gifts like musical instruments, cassoni, and jewelr y as well as elaborate and costly ceremonies celebrated such a wedding W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y E L E M E N TA R Y : P r oject S L I D E 7 The Story of E s t h e r and ask for volunteers to pretend they are the people in the painting. Ask them to talk to each other, creating a dialogue that might be s u g g e s t e d b y the narrati v e of the panel, the details of the painting, and the postures and facial e xpressions of the people. Other students may sug g est dialogue to the actors based on their o b s e r vations. After this ex e r cise, either have students write short dialogues based on their o b s e r v a t i o n s or project one of the other slides and ask students to create a written dialogue for it. W hat might the man and woman in the double portrait be saying to each other? W hat are the three people in Saint Eligius discussing? Rings and prices? J U N I O R H I G H A N D H I G H S C H O O L : I n t r oduce students to the literary f o r m ofthe e p i t h a l a m i u m the wedding poem, using one ofthe examples listed in Bac k g round and Source. P r oject the slides again and have students identify certain f e a t u r es of e a c h that might be inc l u d e d in an epithalamium. W ould they describe the rich clothes, the jewels, and the coats of arms in the P o rt r ait ofMan and Woman at a Casement ? Would they speculate on the personalities or identities of the couple? In Saint Eligius how would they describe the bridal girdle and the ring, symbols of the couples relationship to each other? The Story of E s t h e r pr o vides a narrati v e of the arri v al of the bride that can be elaborated on. Ha v e students write their own epithalamium based on one of the artworks. T hey should ha ve access to the image for further stud y and they may wish to work collaborati v ely in small g r oups. Specific features of the work of art should pr o vide imagery for the epithalamium, but students can also use their imaginations. E X T E N S I O N S S OCIAL S TUDIES : T o learn more about marriage and wedding customs in Renaissance Europe, r ead aloud or pr o vide copies to students of the letter from Alessandra Macinghi Str o zzi to her son in Source Material, p. 92. V ISUAL A RT : Students may wish to create a cassone panel, a narrati v e composition, or a mural to accompany their e p i t h a l a m i u m

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165 S O N N E T T he wor d sonnet is from the Italian wor d sonetto meaning a little sound or a little song T he Italian word deri v es from the Latin sonus w hich means a sound. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 15 A Hunting Scene b y Piero di Cosimo S LIDE 18 T he Judgment of P aris b y Lucas Cranach the Elder S LIDE 20 Broth Bowl and Cover b y Baldassare Manara S LIDE 26 Celestial Globe with Clockwor k B A C KG RO U N D A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E S A sonnet is a str u c t u r ed poetic f o r m in w h i c h a thought about a subject is developed thor o u g h l y. T here are many variations on the basic sixteen-line sonnet, and a number of R enaissance poets utilized this form. T he Italian poet Petrar c h is credited with the first sonnets, and Renaissance poets Sir T homas Wy att, Sir Philip Sidney, and Henry Ho w ard, Earl of Sur r ey, translated his sonnets and used them as models for their own. W illiam Shakespeare and Michelangelo wrote sonnets. Sonnets w e r e created as entertainment, as presentation gifts, and to show off o n e s a b i l i t y to extemporize. In T he Book of the Courtier Aretino is r e presented as having done just that: Aretino sta y ed silent for a little while, and then, when he was again asked to speak, he e v entually recited a sonnet on the subject he had raised, describing what was the meaning ofthe letter S (an ornament that the Duchess was w e a r i n g on her forehead), which many of those present thought he had made up on the spot but which others decided must ha v e been composed beforehand since it was more ingenious and polished than seemed possible in the time. M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Choose one or more of the works abo v e to display and to discuss with students, using the infor mation in each entry to guide the discussion. W hat are the classical references in each of these w orks of art? Ha v e students resear c h the myths associated with these artworks independentl y or during class, then present their findings. W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y E LEMENTAR Y : Ask students to write a poem based on their own version of a myth r e presented in one of the artworks, using imagery drawn from their own obser v ation, resear c h, and the class discussion. J UNIOR H IGH AND H IGH S CHOOL : Identify the metaphors in the myths r e presented in the a r tw o r k s P egasus as the inspiration for po e t r y, f i r e as a cleansing or civilizing f o r ce, the attrib u t e s o f the goddesses, or the Apple of D i s c o r d. Ask students to write sonnets based on a myth as re p r esented in the works of a r t, using a metaphor to connect the myth with some event from their own experience. The final couplet should eff e c t i v e l y provide a conclusion.

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166 L Y R I C T he wor d lyric comes from lyr e an ancient Greek instrument used to pr o vide musical accom paniment to sung or recited poems. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 5 Birth Tra y: T he T riumph of F ame b y Sche g gia S LIDE 18 T he Judgment of P aris b y Lucas Cranach the Elder S LIDE 20 Broth Bowl and Cover b y Baldassare Manara S LIDE 26 Celestial Globe with Clockwor k B A C KG RO U N D A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E S In the Renaissance, poets looked to the ancient Greeks for inspiration. Although no examples of music survi v ed from ancient times, they could read in classical literature that poems wer e r ecited to music and see depictions of this in ancient artworks. Renaissance lyric poets substituted the lute or viol, popular stringed instruments, for the l y r e o f ancient Greece, and they created poems that could be read or sung to music. In Italy, this l i t e r a r y development led to the invention ofthe opera. Read the quote below from The Book of the Cour t i e r : But above all, singing po e t r y accompanied by the viola seems especially pleasurab l e for the instrument gives the w o r ds a r e a l l y marvellous c h a r m and eff e c t i v e n e s s Lorenzo de Medici wrote lyric poems that were set to carni v al and dance tunes. T hey were per f ormed in Florence during the carni v al, or pre-Lenten period, and also during the Calendimaggio w hich be g an on May 1 and ended with the Feast of Saint John the Baptist on June 24. During the festivities, floats and wagons were decorated to r e present particular trades or alle g orical or m ythological subjects. As the procession tra v eled through the streets masked musicians sang and enacted the songs. See Albrecht Drers journal entry in Source Material, p. 83. M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Discuss the wor d lyric and ask students for examples of l yrics from songs they listen to in r ecordings and on the radio. Many of these songs will be about lo v e, but other themes such as f ame, time, or beauty probab l y will be identified as well. Listen to some of these examples, if possible. Introduce the history and concept of l yric poetry to the students, using the information in Backg r ound and Literary Sources. E LEMENTAR Y : Choose one or more of the works of art abo v e and project it for the class. Students should discuss what they see in the work of art and its possible meaning. Does eac h of these artworks ha v e a central theme? Can it be identified? It might be lo v e, fame, beauty, or time. W hat are some of the features of this theme? Ask students to make lists of w ords that r eflect their obser v ations of or responses to the work of art. Using these words, they should be able to compose a lyric poem about the work.

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167 F or example, lyric poems could tell a story ( Pyramus and T hisbe J udgment of P aris ) describe feelings (how it feels to be famous, how it feels to be Juno or Miner v a or V enus) describe the imagery of the cloc k Students can work alone or in small groups to construct sentences and brainstorm rhyming w o rd s These poems can be recited to the accompaniment ofa guitar or other stringed instrument. E X T E N S I O N S M USIC : Students may compose a simple tune for their lyric poem, or they may choose a tune to play in the backg r ound as the poem is read. Invite a musician/songwriter to collaborate on this project, then ha v e students perform their lyric poem for parents or at a school assemb ly. T HEATER A R TS : F o l l o wing the example of L o re n z o students can construct floats to re p re s e n t the theme chosen for their lyric poem. For a school-wide Renaissance f e s t i val, each class may wish to design and construct a float and write a corresponding lyric poem. During a procession, the floats can parade by a center stage or area marked offfor nobility, with each float stopping w h i l e the lyric poem is r e c i t e d M A D R I G A L T he wor d madrigal comes from a Latin word meaning something simple. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement b y Fra Filippo Lippi S LIDE 5 Birth Tra y: T he T riumph of F ame b y Sche g gia S LIDE 18 T he Judgment of P aris b y Lucas Cranach the Elder S LIDE 20 Broth Bowl and Cover b y Baldassare Manara S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s b y Pieter Brue g el the Elder S LIDE 26 Celestial Globe with Clockwor k B A C KG RO U N D A N D L I T E R A R Y S O U RC E S Ear l y madrigals follo w ed a strict form. In northern Ital y they were composed of two or three t e r cets (three-line rhyming passages) f o l l o wed by one or two rhyming couplets (two-line passag e s ) All the lines were made up of se v en or eight syllables. W hile this form became less rigid in the R enaissance, the madrigal k e pt the rhyming couplet at the end. M a d r i g als are written to be sung, so the music must relate to the text. For example, when a q u e s t i o n is asked in the text, the music might go up the scale in order to sound like a question. If the madrigal is sad, the music is slo w in a minor key, and the notes go down the scale. W hen r eferences are made to birds singing or cric k ets chirping, the words and music imitate these sounds. Madrigals may incorporate stories from le g ends like Robin Hood or from classical or biblical s o u r ces. A popular subject matter ofthe madrigal is love. Sometimes this theme is c l e v e r ly d i s g u i s e d with puns and plays on words. Listen to madrigals by John Dowland, T homas W eelkes, T homas Morley in English, or Italian madrigalists like Claudio Monte v erdi.

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168 M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Discuss familiar song lyrics from popular songs, Br o a d way musicals, or music that students are l e a r ning in choir or music classes. Have students read, sing, or play r e c o r ded examples and discuss h o w a song lyric must fit a particular tune or ar r a n g ement. How do w o r ds and music fit tog e t h e r to tell a story or convey an emotion? Music, tunes, and lyrics were just as important in the Renaissance as they are toda y Introduce the form of the Renaissance madrigal to students, playing recorded examples from Italian and E n g lish madrigalists. Read some ofthe texts and talk about how the tune and w o r ds fit tog e t h e r W hen nonsense syllables or r e peated words are sung, what could be their purpose? Can you r eally concentrate and hear two dif f erent lyrics at the same time? Tr u l y beautiful music consists, in my opinion, in fine singing, in reading accurately f r om the score and in an attractive personal style, and still more in singing to the accompaniment ofthe viola. I say this because the solo voice contains all the purity o f music, and style and melody are studied and appreciated more car e f u l l y when our ears are not distracted by more than one voice, and ev e r y little fault, too, is more c l e a r ly apparent, something w h i c h does not happen when a group is singing, because then one singer covers up for the other. Fr om T he Book of the Courtier W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y J UNIOR H IGH AND H IGH S CHOOL : Choose one or more of the artworks abo v e. Ha v e students write their own madrigal text using descripti v e words deri v ed from the discussion or study of the artwork. T his can take one of the following forms: T he joys or hardships of country life (Brue g el, T he Harvester s ). Lo v e (from the perspecti v e of one of the people in Saint Eligius or the P ortrait of Man and W oman a t a Casement ). A story from mythology ( Broth Bowl and Cover with story of Pyramus and T hisbe, T he Judgment of P aris ). A theme, such as T ime ( Celestial Globe with Clockwor k ) or Fame ( T he T riumph of F ame ), related to their own experiences. W hile madrigal texts stand on their own as poetr y students might wish to set them to music, using a popular tune or round or a piece of their own composition. In the case of part-singing nonsense words or syllables can be added to the text so that the parts can alternate words and sounds. A mechanical noise (tick tock, tick tock) for the Celestial Globe with Clockwor k shouts o f h u rr ay for The Triumph ofF a m e can provide accompaniment for the main lyric without i n t e r fe r i n g with its being heard and understood. E X T E N S I O N S M U S I C : This activity may inv o l v e the whole class working together to write a single madrigal. In addition, this is a good project for collaborating with the music teacher, or bringing in a guest musician/songwriter to help students with the finer points of writing lyrics. Older students may adapt it as an independent study project in which they individually resear c h a work of ar t to write their own madrigal.

171 L E S S O N P L A N : L A N G U A G E A R T S A L L E G O R Y W R I T E O R D R A W A N A L L E G O R Y G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E Students will look at and decipher a visual alle g ory of f ame. Students will discuss the concept of f ame in the Renaissance and fame toda y. Students will write or draw a personal alle g ory relating to fame. W O R K O F A RT S LIDE 5 Birth T ra y, T he T riumph of F ame b y Sche g gia D I S C U S S I O N P r oject the slide ofthe birth tray without identifying its subject. Ask the students to look at the image c l o s e l y and describe what they see. Who are all the f i g u r es on horse b a c k, and what are they doing? Ask students what they know about knights and knighthood. Can they name any famous knights? How do we remember these knights? Is it by their f a m i l y name, their virtues, their deeds, their physical appearance? Why are the knights saluting the central f i g u r e? W ho is the focal point of the composition? Ha v e students describe the figures appear ance and posture. W hat is she holding? T he e x cerpted quote from T he Book of the Courtier (below) may help to explain the presence of the cupid and the s w ord, the relationship between lo v e and war. It also may explain w h y Fame is depicted as a woman. Certainl y once the flame of lo v e is burning in a man s heart, co w ardice can ne v er possess it. For a lo v er al wa ys wishes to make himself as lo v able as possible, and he al wa ys fears lest some disgrace befall him which can make him less esteemed by the woman whose esteem he cra v es; neither does he flinch from risking his life a thousand times a day in order to d e s e r ve her love. [In the army ofKing F e r dinand and Queen Isabella ofSpain] there w e r e m a n y noble knights who w e r e in love, and w h o bef o r e they came in sight o f the enemy, would always go along conversing with their ladies; and then e a c h one would take his leave and, bef o r e his lad y s eyes, go to c h a l l e n g e the e n e m y with the proud courage that sprang from love and the ambition to let the women see that they w e r e served by men ofv a l o u r Fr om the Book of the Cour t ier on lo v e and war Using the materials in the slide entr y discuss the significance of birth trays. T o whom w ere birth trays gi v en? W ere they simply a gift on the birth of a bab y or did their i m a ge r y and subject matter convey a message? Explain the w o r d t r i u m p h to the students, its double reference to victory and to ancient Roman processional floats. Wh y is ther e a coat of arms on the back? T he w o r d alleg o r y comes f r om the Greek w o rd s a l l o s (other) and a g o re u e i n ( t o s p e a k )

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172 F U RT H E R D I S C U S S I O N O F F A M E Ask students to name some famous people of toda y including celebrities, politicians, sports f igures, and rock stars. Wh y are these people famous, and how ha v e they become famous? How do they ensure that their fame will sur v i ve? Do they give money to c h a r i t i e s donate their time, m a k e commercials, let their name be associated with products or causes,or do they do other things that they know will put them in the spotlight? Most people want to be recognized in some way for their kno w l e d g e, service, or talents. Do we all pursuef ame to a certain de gr ee? Do w e try to e x cel at sports, make good grades, or win scholarships or a w ards? Ask students to think ofsome ofthe diff e r ences between the way fame was pursued and v a l u e d in the Renaissance and the way it is today. Does it carry a responsibility with it, or is it entir e l y personal? Some fame is long-lasting and f a rre a ch i n g and some fame is f l e e t i n g Ask students to think ofpeople who they think will be famous ten years from now, and who will not. F ollowing are some thoughts that will help further the discussion of f ame. An ideal Renaissance man, according to Alberti, was assiduous in the science and skill of dealing with arms and horses and musical instruments, as well as in the pursuit of letters and the fine arts, he was de v oted to the knowledge of the most strange and dif f icult things. And finall y he embraced with zeal and forethought e v erything which pertained to fame. The Duke Federico da Montef e l t ro s s t u d i o l o at Gub b i o re p r esented in S L I D E 9 contains a n u m b e r of r eferences to fame. T he intarsia panel showing a garter hanging in a cupboard draws our attention to the skillful use of perspecti ve It is the symbol of the English Order of the Garter to which Federico da Montefeltro had been named, and it r e presents the extent to whic h his name and prestige had tra v eled. Another intarsia panel depicts a lectern on which a volume of V irgil s Aeneid is opened to the passage: Lifetimes are brief and not to be r eg ained, F or all mankind. But by their deeds to mak e T heir fame last: that is labor for the bra v e. Abo v e the lectern is a mir r or whose frame is decorated with one of F edericos symbols, tongues of f ire, alternating with the initials of his son Guidobaldo and the title dux .T his detail, along with the quote from V irgil, may refer to the fact that Federico died assisting the duke of F errara in battle before the studiolo was completed. Erasmus ( S LIDE 17 ), a northerner, takes a completely dif f erent view of f ame. In T he Praise of F olly he satirizes those who wish to pursue fame: Men who really are among the most foolish ha v e thought that by nights without slee p and by their s w eat, they could pur c hase fameI know not what sort of f ame, but certainly nothing could be more empty .Y et at any rate you o w e these c hoice blessings of life to Foll y andwhat is the cream of the jestyou reap the fruits of a madness you need not share.

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173 W R I T I N G A N A L L E G O R Y In the birth tra y Fame is a woman in classical draper y One w a y of e xplaining abstract concepts is to gi v e them concrete form, for example, a human body with human characteristics and attributes. W hen ideas like Fame, Lo v e, or Death are explained or elucidated in this w ay it is called alle g or y Alle g ories can be visual, as in paintings or works of art, or they can be written descriptions, in poetr y prose, or drama. Students may wish to brainstorm a list of abstract concepts or write them on the board. T he list may include religious principles, virtues and vices, ideals, values, or emotions; for example, F aith, Hope, Charity, Jealousy, Glutton y Fame, Tr uth, Rage, Happiness, Patriotism, R ev enge, or Foll y. What would be some ofthe attributes ofa character based on one ofthese concepts? T h i n k about facial or physical characteristics (smooth brow, piercing eyes), colors that might be associated with that character (for example, red for anger or passion), and appropriate speec h and actions. W ho might be a companion to this character? (Would Rage accompany Jealousy?) W hat personal property might the character own? (Patriotism may car r y a flag.) Place-names re p r esent obstacles, stages, or g o a l s The Well of L i f e or the Slough of D e s p o n d Renaissance alleg o r i e s d r ew their inspiration from a variety of s o u r ces: folk tales, m y t h o l o g y, biblical stories, paintings, pageants, classical writers, or e v en books of emblems. Keeping these guidelines in mind, students can write their own allegories. They may wish to por t r a y themselves as a typical human or soul (Everyman) tra v eling through an in v ented countr y sear c hing for Fame, and meeting other alle g orical figures who either help or hinder them. P A I N T I N G A N A L L E G O R Y Students may wish to draw or paint their alleg o r y, giving their characters the facial c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s c lothing, and attributes of a particular concept. Again, they may wish to include themselves pursuing Fame, whose visual appearance can v a r y according to their personal goals and aspirations. Books ofsymbols may help students choose appropriate iconog r a p h y for their c h a r a c t e r s E X T E N S I O N S S O C I A L S T U D I E S : Students may wish to read more ofthe life of L o r enzo deMedici after h e a r i n g about its auspicious start. A Portrait of Lorenzo deMedici b y Francesco Guicciardini in Storie f iorentine looks back on the life of Lorenzo after his death. Students can judge for themselves how accurately the birth tray was as a prediction of F ame. L ANGU A GE A R TS /M USIC /D RAMA : As an alternati v e e x ercise, students may wish to write a lyric poem about fame, resear c hing and reading some of Lorenzos poetry that he wrote for carni v al songs. L ANGU A GE A R TS : T he Faerie Queen b y Edmund Spenser (1552), a poet of the English R enaissance, is both an alle g ory and a book of courtesy, like Castiglione s T he Courtier .W hile comparing England to a fairyland inhabited by knights personifying various virtues, he also sets out a pattern of behavior for gentlemen. Students studying English literature may wish to e xplore this alle g ory in more detail.

175 S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement, F ra Filippo Lippi P O RT R A I T C H E C K L I S T T he realistic portrait sculpture of the ancient Romans influenced the painted and sculptured portraits of the Renaissance. T he exact function of the ear l y Renaissance portrait is not known, though often the sitters likeness was painted after he or she had died, sometimes from a death mask. Later, portraits were commissioned as gifts, or to commemorate a special e v ent, like a marriage or birth. Sometimes they were e xc hanged when a marriage was being arranged, and couples could not meet before their wedding P ortrait of a Man Marble, Roman, 1st c. A D Fletcher Fund, 1926 (26.60.3) S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement, F ra Filippo Lippi S LIDE 17 Erasmus of R otterdam, Hans Holbein the Y ounger T he northern European painters rendered their portraits with g r eat precision and detail. T hey portra y ed the mood and psy c he of the sitter ( S LIDE 17 ). By contrast, the ear l y Italian portraits re presented ideal beauty and wealth ( S LIDE 4 ). T he features are recognizable and the f a m i ly s status c l e a r ly was shown, but the sitters mood or feeling remains unr e c o r ded.

177 L E S S O N P L A N : P O RT R A I T T H E R E NA I S S A N C E P O RT R A I T G R A D E L E V E L Upper Elementary through High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will look at and study Renaissance Portraits. T hey will be asked to think about the relationship of the artist to the patron. Students will be asked to write about one Renaissance portrait. Students will make a clay portrait or self-portrait. Students will construct a Renaissance headdress for the portrait. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 4 P ortrait of Man and W oman at a Casement b y Fra Filippo Lippi S LIDE 6 Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus S LIDE 17 Erasmus of R otterdam b y Hans Holbein the Y ounger S LIDE 21 P ortrait of aY oung Man b y Bronzino M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N F OR THE TEACHER : Look at the images and read the slide entries before you plan your lesson. Project S LIDE 21 P ortrait of aY oung Man b y Bronzino .Wh y did people ha v e portraits painted in the Renaissance? W hat does the portrait tell us about life in the Renaissance? Discuss the young mans attitude. What does his pose tell us? What does the en v i ro n m e n t in w h i c h he stands tell us? Ask students to look in art books that have R e n a i s s a n c e p o rt r a i t s Ha v e them take note of the poses and environments or backg r ounds. Ask students to compare and contrast the diff e r ent poses: pr o f ile por t r a i t ; three-quarter portrait, and full-face portrait. T he following WRITING A CTIVITIES will further the discussion. A C T I V I T Y I: A N E X P LO R AT I O N O F A R E NA I S S A N C E P O RT R A I T Project S LIDE 6 or 4 Ask students to write a diary entry or a letter that begins, When I looked into the shop or the window of a house. Ask the students to concentrate on p e o p l e s faces and write what they imagine the people are thinking. Perhaps they can write a dialogue between the people in the scene and describe the setting. (Refer to Lesson Plan: T he Story in Art, Part II, p. 153.) W ho could e v er without the g r eatest stud y e x p r ess faces in w h i c h mouth, c hin, eyes, cheeks, forehead and ey e br o w all were in harmony with laughter or w eeping? Fr om Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting

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178 A C T I V I T Y II: B R I N G T H E A S S I G N M E N T U PTO T H E P R E S E N T Ask students to interview each other and write a brief biograph y.T hen ask them to write a n unauthorized biog r a p h y (not ofa student but perhaps a celebrity; set limits for pr o p r i e t y ) Ask the students to discuss the dif f erence between the two biographies and make connections to authorized versus unauthorized biographies. Project the slides. Continue this discussion in the context ofthe relationship between artist and patron in the Renaissance. A C T I V I T Y III: M A K E A R E NA I S S A N C E P O RT R A I T I N C L A Y W O R K S O F A RT Choose from the abo v e list M A T E R I A L S c lay or gray Cellucla y pencil and paper tissue paper of all colors scissors, stapler, paint, brushes wire or pipe cleaners art books M O T I V A T I O N D i s t r i b ute c l a y. W a r m-up ex e rc i s e s h a ve students work in pairs facing each other. Ask one s t u d e n t in each pair to make a face that expresses a mood or emotion. T he other student must guess the emotion. Ask both students to notice and describe how the eyes, nose, and mouth ar e used in each expression. Do it again so that each student has a chance to make a face. Ask students to make quick clay sketches of each others faces, or to look in a mir r or and mak e a self-portrait. When the students have finished the heads do not let them dry until the students ha v e made their headdresses. Project S LIDES 6 8 21 and 25 and ask students to look at the headdresses. T hey also ma y look in art books for examples. Ask them to choose one, make a sketch of it, and then mak e the form out of wire or pipe cleaners. T hen they can co v er it with tissue paper .T hey must mak e it so it can fit on their clay head. Ask students to describe how the face changes with the head dress or hat. C O N N E C T I O N S S OCIAL S TUDIES /L ANGU A GE A R TS : Lesson Plan: Erasmus of R otterdam, p. 179.

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179 L E S S O N P L A N : P O RT R A I T E R A S M U S O F R O T T E R DA M C O M PA R E T WO P O RT R A I T S G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will use visual and written primary source materials to explore a portrait of Erasmus. Students will read and discuss examples of satirical writing, especiall y T he Praise of F olly b y Erasmus. Students will choose from a variety of independent-study projects related to their e xploration of this portrait. W O R K O F A RT S LIDE 17 Erasmus of R otterdam b y Hans Holbein the Y ounger D I S C U S S I O N D i s t r i b ute photocopies ofthe quote on page 184 to students, and ask them to read it. B r i e f ly discuss The Praise ofF o l l y Erasmuss satire on the condition of h u m a n i t y in w h i c h he reveals foolishness at all levels and occupations through the allegorical voice ofa young woman, Dame F o l l y. T o Erasmus, foolishness was a state of the human condition. No one could escape being a fool of one kind or another, e v en the scholar. In the following quote, Dame F olly describes such a man. She has just argued that half-wits, or natural fools, are the happiest of all people because they are free from tortures of conscience and from fear of death. Comparing their brand of f oolishness with that of the scholar, she makes the f ollowing statement: F ancy some pattern of wisdom a man who wore out his whole bo yhood and youth in pursuing the learned disciplines. He wasted the best time of life in unintermitted watchings, cares, and studies; and through the remaining part of it he ne v er tasted so much as a tittle of pleasure; al wa ys frugal, impecunious, sad, austere; unfair and strict to w ard himself morose and unamiable to others; af f licted by pallor, leanness, in v alidism, sore eyes, and premature old age and white hair; dying before his appointed da y. Some scholars belie v e that this is Erasmuss written self-portrait. Project the slide of Erasmus of R otterdam a portrait painted by his friend Hans Holbein, who also drew the illustrations for T he Praise of F olly I f it is not my destiny to f ind f av or with e v er y one, I am consoled for the pr e s e n t b y the reflection that almost u n i v e r s a l l y I am well reg a rd e d b y those who themselves ar e best r eg arded; and I hope that at some not distant time that which now pleases the best ofmen will come to please the majority of m e n Desiderius Erasmus

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180 Ask a student to read the first sentence of the quote. T ake a minute to explain unfamiliar words and their usage, then ha v e the class look carefully at the projected portrait. Ho wold do e s Erasmus seem to be in this painting? Is there evidence that he might be a sc h o l a r ? W hat kinds of e vidence? Does his clothing or demeanor sug g est such a profession? Ask another student to continue reading the quote up to the first semicolon. Again refer to the painting for evidence for or against this description. Ha v e each student read a phrase of the description, discuss what it means, then ask how it relates to the painting. Look c l o s e l y at E r a s m u s s face, his eyes, nose, and especially his mouth. What about his c l o t h i n g and his hat? W hat may be sug g ested by the position of his hands? How has the artist portra y ed his friend s personality? Discuss Erasmuss evaluation of s c holars. Does he seem to be bitter? regretful? resigned? Is he poking fun at himselfor just admitting that a sc h o l a r ly life has its dra w b a c ks? Is he e x p r essing the opinions and observations ofothers? Ifhe is, he does not refute them. (Perhaps that would be taking them too seriously.) What w o r ds or phrases do the students find most meaningful? Wh y ? Despite the fact that Erasmus could be describing himself in this passage, we know that he had friends who enjo y ed his compan y A f av orite word of his was f estivus a Latin word meaning festi v e or companionable. He dedicated T he Praise of F olly to his friend T homas More (see S o u r ce Material, p. 80), and in the pr e f ace tells More that T he judicious reader will easily p e rc e i ve that my end is pleasure rather than censure. Still, if there is an y one whom the work cannot please, he should at least remember this, that it is a fine thing to be slandered by Foll y. Look again at the slide of Erasmus and identify w a ys in which this interpretation of Erasmus is shown. Does the face seem to be more sympathetic and less austere? Is the smile less grim, more ironic? Does it imply a recognition of and acceptance of human folly? How well has Holbein portra y ed his friends personality? T he Praise of F olly is a satire. Ha v e students discuss the apparent paradox of the title. Discuss this f o r m of h u m o r ous writing with the students, finding examples from newspaper columns, p o l i t i c a l cartoons, and e v er y day speech. Explain that satire is written for people who can under stand the referencesa pr e pared audience. A satirist may attack an existing state of af f airs, a person, or an institution by poking fun or criticizing, but the writer is under no obligation to of f er a solution or remed y. Erasmus satirizes young and old, friends, lo v ers, writers, scientists, kings, cler gy and popes (although he does not name names). W hat is the purpose of satire? In the introduction to his translation of T he Praise of F olly Hoyt Hopewell Hudson writes, The g r eat satirist lifts the reader to his own plane ofclear vision, and wins confidence by reposing in the reader conf i d e n c e that this vision will be shared. Hudson states that Erasmuss vision is less a criticism of f aults than a plea for tolerance and understanding D e f ine h u m a n i s t (see Introduction, p. 10) and discuss Erasmuss place in the intellectual curr e n t s o f the time. He read and translated Greek, Roman, and early Christian authors. His own writings show the influence of the classics; for example, the Syrian writer Lucian inspired his interest in satire as a literary device for T he Praise of F olly In addition, Erasmus compiled a book, Adages

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181 from folk pr ov erbs whose de v elopment he traced from classical sources. His books were enor mously popular with the urbane and sophisticated middle class, who appreciated the humor and intelligence behind his criticisms. Finall y Erasmus belie v ed in the dignity of man. His ideals of tolerance and humanitarianism led to his being called the most civilized man of his age. E X T E N S I O N S L ANGU A GE A R TS Students may wish to read from T he Praise of F olly then write a satirical essay of their own. Students may choose to construct a time line around Erasmus and his influence based o n satirical styles ofwriting or the treatment offools and f o l l y. They may r e s e a r ch writers w ho influenced Erasmus, including Lucian, a second-century Syrian writer, and Sebastian Brant, a contemporary of Erasmus. Or they may compare satire as it appears in T he Praise of F olly with examples from later writers, such as W illiam Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Alexander P ope, or Dorothy Parker Students may wish to identify and collect examples of contemporary satirical writings from newspapers, magazines, and other sources. V ISUAL A R TS Netherlandish prints based on foll y fools, and Elc k or Everyman, were popular during the sixteenth centur y Students may wish to resear c h the engravings of Bosch, Brue g el, and other printmakers and identify w a ys in which the theme of f olly is communicatedthrough crude or foolish actions, clothing, like fools caps or donkey ears, or through symbolic references in the prints themselves. Illustrations from T he Ship of F ools b y Sebastian Brant may be used as e xamples. Students can resear c h the role of f ools in history and literature, including contemporary ref erences (the movie Ship of F ools or popular songs lik e Everybody Plays the Fool). T hey ma y wish to make an imaginary portrait of a fool. M USIC Students may wish to find and perf o r m some ofthe music ofthe time that relates to fools or f o l l y and discover w h e r e and why it was perf o r med. Collections by Michael Praetorius ( T e rp s i ch o r e ) or Tielman Susato ( D a n s ye r e ) contain N a r r e n t a n ze n ( fo o l s dances) or tunes connected with Shrove T u e s d a y, or F a s t n a ch t a day offeasting and jollity also known as Mardi Gras. S OCIAL S TUDIES T homas More of England was a friend of both Erasmus and Holbein. Students can resear ch Mores life and writings, including Utopia his own social satire.

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182 Humanists of the sixteenth century were interested in pr ov erbs. Erasmus collected and r esear c hed them, compiling a book. Pieter Brue g el painted a collection of pr ov erbs ( T he Blue Cloak or Netherlandish Pr o verbs ). Pr ov erbs were incorporated into other artworks, suc has plates, platters, and mugs. Students might make a visual or written catalogue of m o d e r n pr ov erbs, or trace or incorporate a single pr ov erb into a work of art. Students may wish to e x p l o r e what Erasmus has to say about Fame (see below for one example) and contrast it with the concept as presented in the birth tray of Lorenzo de Medici (Lesson Plan: Alle g or y page 171). C u l t u r es other than that ofChristian Europe also ac k n ow l e d g e f o l l y through rituals or t r a d i t i o n s Students may enjoy finding contemporary or historical examples from other parts of the world. Students may wish to read The Praise ofF o l l y or study humanism from a feminist perspective. Is Erasmus including women in his satire? Why or why not? R E S O U RC E S Erasmus, Desiderius, trans. by Hoyt Hopewell Hudson. T he Praise of F olly Princeton, NJ : Princeton Uni v ersity Press, 1974. Mee, Charles L., Jr Erasmus: T he Eye of the Hurricane New Y ork: Co w ard, McCann & Geoghe g an, Inc., 1974. (Young Adult)

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183 W hat The Book of the Courtier has to say about f oolishness: T herefore I hold this for certain: that in each one of us there is some seed off o l l y w h i c h, once it is s t i r red, can grow indef i n i t e l y. W hat Dame Folly has to say about fame in The Praise of F olly: Men who really are among the most foolish ha ve thought that by nights without slee p and by their sw eat, they could pur c hase fameI know not w hat sort of f ame, but certainly nothing could be more empty .Y et at any rate you o w e these choice b lessings of life to Foll y andwhat is the cream of the jestyou reap the fruits of a madness you need not share. R E P RO D U C E F O R C L A S S RO O M U S E :

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184 F ancy some pattern of wisdom a man who wore out his whole boyhood and youth in pursuing the learned dis ciplines. He wasted the best time of life in unintermitted w atchings, cares, and studies; and through the remaining part of it he ne v er tasted so much as a tittle of pleasure; al wa ys frugal, impecunious, sad, austere; unfair and strict to w ard himself, morose and unamiable to others; af f licted b y pallor, leanness, in v alidism, sore eyes, and premature old age and white hair; dying before his appointed da y. Fr om T he Praise of F olly b y Desiderius Erasmus. T he speaker is Dame Foll y and she is telling us that no one is immune from her influence, e v en those who consider themselves to be wise.

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185 L E S S O N P L A N : T E C H N I QU E S A N D M A T E R I A L S T E M P E R A G R A D E L E V E L J unior High and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will learn about tempera and oil paints. Students will do a simple science experiment to distinguish one of the dif f erences between the two types of paint. Students will discuss light and shade. Students will mix and use tempera paints to paint a simple three-dimensional form. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 2 T he Crucifixion, T he Last Judgment b y Jan van Ey ck S LIDE 8 T he Birth of the V irgin b y Fra Carne v ale V O C A BU L A R Y S IZE : A weak solution of g lue used to render can v as or wood panels less absorbent G R OUND : A painting surface pr e pared with gesso or a la y er of paint of ev en tone M EDIUM :T he liquid in which painting pigment is suspended F I X AT I V E : A colorless solution sprayed onto designs made in impermanent materials ( c halk, pastel, or c h a r coal) to fix them in space and prevent smudging T INT : A color made by adding white to another color S HADE : A color made by adding black to another color A painting, then, is a plane co v ered with patches of color on the surface ofw o o d w all or can vas Fr om Giorgio V asari, Lives of the Artists 1550

187 M A T E R I A L S F OR TEACHER DEMONSTRATION : salad oil, water, eyedroppers, paper two pr e pared boards with simple geometric shapes underdrawn pre-mixed tempera paints oil paints F OR STUDENTS : squeeze bottles for storing and dispensing tempera palettes for holding tints and shades c harcoal, chalk, or pen and ink for underdrawing brushes small pieces of cardboard, wood, or illustration boar d g eometric forms (cones, spheres, e g gs, bo x es) other materials are discussed in detail on facing pag e D I S C U S S I O N A N D M O T I V A T I O N F OR THE T EACHER : B e gin this project by explaining to students that they will do a short science e xperiment. Ha v e students take out a clean sheet of notebook paper and place it on their desks. Ask for two volunteers to circulate among the students, placing a drop of w ater and a drop of oil on each sheet of paper. Ha v e students set these aside while they view the slides. Project the two slides and ask students to describe the colors and the appearance of the paint in each one of the paintings. Ha v e them look for forms that ha v e volume and for places wher e the artist painted areas of light and shade. Referring to the information in the slide entries, ask students if they belie v e that the two artists were using the same kind of paint. Wh y or w h y not? Using premixed shades and tints of eg g tempera, demonstrate how to apply it to a surface to create the illusion of light and shade. On a pr e pared panel with an underdrawing in charcoal of a three-dimensional form, apply one shade of tempera paint to an area of the f o r m, then paint a lighter or darker shade in an area next to it, pointing out the line cr e a t e d w here the two dif f erent shades meet. Use hatching lines to blend one shade into the other Re peat the demonstration using oil paints. Demonstrate how the paint can be mixed on the sur f ace of the panel to create the illusion of light and shade. Ask students to check the drop of w ater and the drop of oil placed on their desk earlier. Has the water e v aporated? W hat has happened to the oil? Is it still there? How can you tell? If this e xperiment were r e peated, dropping the water and oil onto glass, how long would it take the oil to harden from its liquid state? Ask students to think back on the two painting demonstrations. How does the use of w ater or oil with pigment af f ect the w a y the artist painted and how the finished product looked?

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188 Look at the two slides again. Do students ha v e any other obser v ations or comments? A C T I V I T Y Explain that students will ha v e a chance to experiment with e g g tempera, but first they must pr e pare their panels and make an underdrawing F ollow the gesso recipe in this lesson plan, and apply gesso to small cardboard panels. For y ounger students, the teacher may wish to pr e pare these in ad v ance. Ha v e students set up one or two solid geometric forms in the middle of a table or desk. If desired, these forms can be lit with a lamp to pr o vide more contrast of light and shado w Point out how the form is divided into areas of lighter and darker shades. Ha v e students use colored c halk, charcoal, or pen and ink to create a value drawing of a shaded three-dimensional form. Students may use their f i n g ers or a rag to g e n t l y blend the values ifthey are using chalk or c h a r coal, but with pen and ink, they must use hatching and cr o s s h a t c hing to create areas of d i f f e r ent values. Use a spray bottle containing skim milk to gently mist each drawing .T he milk will act as a f ixati v e and pr ev ent the underdrawing from smearing or bleeding. Set aside until dr y. Depending on the age of the students, a more or less limited range of shades of tempera can be pr o vided. Place each shade in a squeeze bottle where it can be dispensed easil y. Demonstrate how to apply tempera to the shaded underdrawing, lighter shades to the light areas of the forms, darker shades to the darker areas of the underdrawing. Students should first appl y Hatching a light color into a dark area Hatching a dark color into a light area the tempera to these discrete areas, then use hatching to blend the adjacent colors together Depending on the age g r oup and time limit, students may wish to use oil glazes (see recipe) to further heighten the ef f ect of light and shade on their forms.

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189 E X T E N S I O N S V ISUAL A RT : Older students may do a follow-up painting using tempera to create a landscape, still life, or figure stud y.T hey may wish to paint the same subject in oil paints, then compar e the results. S OCIAL S TUDIES /V ISUAL A RT : R esear c h the de v elopment of oil paints. Giorgio V asari wrote in 1568 that [a] most beautiful in v ention and a g r eat con v enience to the art of P ainting, was the disco v ery of colouring in oil. T he first in v entor of it was John of Bruges [Jan V an Ey c k] in Flanders, who sent a panel to Naples to King Alfonso, and to the Duke of Urbino, Federico II, the paintings for his bathroom. Although Jan V an Ey c k ( S LIDE 2 ) is often credited with the in v ention of oil paints, they wer e a c t u a l l y developed centuries earlier but used only for outdoor paintings. Van Eyc k s oil paintings w e r e meant to be displayed indoors, and he also demonstrated how the luminosity and rich c o l o r s of oil paints could be exploited to create dazzling ef f ects. S CIENCE /S OCIAL S TUDIES : R esear c h some of the pigments used in paints. T hese range from the e x otic (mummy br o wn, made by grinding up the embalmed corpses of ancient Egyptian mummies), the precious (ultramarine blue, made from grinding lapis lazuli to a po w der), the mundane (b u r nt sienna,made by roasting raw earth from near Siena in Italy), to the dang e ro u s (emerald g r een, made from arsenic and copper). As a class project, ha v e students make their o wn pigments from safe materials. R E S O U RC E S Craig, Diana, ed. A Miscellany of Artists W isdom. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1993. Massey, Bernard Stanford, and Robert Massey F ormulas for Painter s. New Y ork: W atson-Guptill Publications, 1988. S t e phenson, Jonathan. The Materials and T e c hniques ofP a i n t i n g London: Thames and Hudson, 1989. T hompson, Daniel V ., Jr T he Practice of T empera Painting New Y ork: Do v er Publications, 1936, 1962. W E B S I T E R E S O U RC E S T he Eg gT empera home page, including a source for supplies and a newsg r oup for e xc hanging information: http://www.e g gtempera.com Art Studio Chalkboard, Eg gT empera Painting: http://www.her r on.iupui.edu/faculty/larmann/chalkboard/p-e g gtemp.html

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191 L E S S O N P L A N : T E C H N I QU E S A N D M A T E R I A L S P R I N T M A K I N G G R A D E L E V E L Elementar y Junior High, and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will study and discuss two Renaissance prints. Students may explore a variety of options in deciding on an image to pr e pare for printing Students will make their own print. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 13 Adam and Eve b y Albrecht Drer P A GE 93 Battle of the Naked Men b y Antonio Pollaiuolo M A T E R I A L S f oam board for younger students; foam board or linoleum blocks for older students spoons paper cut the same size as the foam board or linoleum blocks printing ink bra y ers smooth surfaces to roll ink out (magazines, Formica or linoleum sheets) V O C A BU L A R Y P LATE :T he block of w ood or metal (or foam board) whose surface is cut a wa y to for m the picture or design to be printed. B URNISHING T OOL : A hard, smooth tool used to press down metal burrs and rough edges left by the burin. B AREN : A flat, smooth tool used to press the ink from the plate onto a sheet of paper B URIN : A shar p pointed engraving tool used to scrape lines into a metal plate. P R O O F :A print made at some point during the eng r a ving process, allo w i n g the artist to c heck the work. M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N Discuss with students how the printing process makes it possible to r e produce man y copies of a picture or text, using books and newspapers as examples. Students are prob ab l y familiar with rubber stamps, so these can be demonstrated to show how ink is applied to a surface, then pressed to paper to make an image. Just as the rubber stamp can make an image for e v ery student in the classroom, prints could be made for m a n y people. They w e r e r e l a t i v e l y ine x p e n s i ve, so they made art accessible to a wider audience. In addition, they pr o vided a means of disseminating information. I also consecrate Mar c a n t o n i o Raimondi, who f o l l o ws in the f o o t s t e ps ofthe masters o f a n t i q u i t y and who is so skillful both in drawing and with the burin as is clear in the beautiful eng r a ved plates he has made ofme, as Im w r i t i n g a portrait on copper, and I am now in doubt, w h i c h one is more aliv e Fr om Gio v anni Filoteo Achillini, poet, late 15th centur y

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192 D i s t r i b ute copies ofthe two prints listed above and ask students to look c l o s e l y at the i m a g es. What makes these prints like drawings? How are they diff e r ent? The human body w a s a popular subject for prints; how does this fit in with what students have learned about Renaissance interest in anatom y ? Both Adam and Eve and T he Battle of the Naked Men ar e engravings which means that the image was s c r a t c hed into a metal plate with a pointed tool called a b u r i n Several times during the e n gr av i n g process, the artist applied ink to the engra v ed surface, then wiped the e x cess a way A sheet of paper was laid o v er the metal surface, and the ink was forced out of the scratched areas b y pressing (as in a press) or by rubbing with an instrument called a baren. T he artist would inspect this image, called a pr o o f then continue to eng r a ve the metal until he or she was satisf i e d with the results. W hen metal is cut a wa y in this fashion, mistakes are very hard to cor r ect, so the artist w o r k ed from a pr e l i m i n a r y dra w i n g The lines w e r e eng r a ved car e f u l l y and deliberately, and rough edges, or burrs, were smoothed down with a burnishing tool. One feature of prints is that the final image is the mir r or opposite of the block used to print it. For this reason, words and letters must be engra v ed backward on the plate. W hen the imag e is printed, they appear so that we can read them. Ask students to look for the artists signatures in the two engravings. Ha v e students look for dark and light areas on the two prints. Light areas would indicate a smooth plate, where the ink was wiped a way.W here many lines are inscribed close together or cross-hatched, the ink would collect and transfer areas of shading and pattern. Dif f erent values are created by varying the density of lines. A C T I V I T Y Ha v e students make preliminary drawings the size of their printing block or plate. See Extensions below for ideas on incorporating this activity into the other lesson plans. W hen students are satisfied with their drawings, they may transfer them to the plate. If the plate is foam board, the drawing may be placed o v er the surface, then traced, pressing har d enough to make an impression. T hey should then deepen these lines by going o v er them with a sharp tool or pencil point. If students are using linoleum or wood blocks, their design must be transfer r ed, then cut and gouged with sharpened tools designed for this purpose. Students should use a brayer to roll out printing ink on a flat surface, such as a piece of l i n o l e u m or a glossy magazine. The ink should be rolled onto the plate with the bray e r then a fresh sheet o f paper is pressed ev e n l y over the inked surface. Students may use the back ofa spoon as a b a r en, g e n t l y r u b bing all over the back ofthe paper to transfer the ink ev e n l y. The paper should be peeled away from the plate car e f u l l y. A press also can be used, ifone is av a i l a bl e

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193 E X T E N S I O N S V I S UA L A RT : R e f er to Lesson Plan: Gesture, p. 125, and have students make pr e l i m i n a r y d r a wings the size of their printing block, then transfer the best one to the block for printing V ISUAL A RT : Ha v e students design a personal emblem that can be transfer r ed to the printing b lock and printed on paper banners or T -shirts, using textile inks. V ISUAL A RT : Students may wish to look at works of art in the pac k et that incorporate patterns. Some ofthese include the Sir George Cliff o r d Armor ( S L I D E 2 7 ), the Double V i rg i n a l ( S L I D E 2 8 ) and the Pentagonal Spinet ( S LIDE 22 ). Experimenting with arabesques, geometric, and plant designs, students can design their own allo v er pattern, transfer it to the printing plate, then decorate a sheet of paper by printing the design all o v er its surface. S OCIAL S TUDIES /V ISUAL A R TS : Students may wish to trace the influence of the printing press in Renaissance Europe, including its role in disseminating classical texts, writings by humanists like Erasmus, S LIDE 17 books of written music, playing cards, and maps, as well as prints b y artists. R E S O U RC E S T he History of Printmaking Scholastic Voy ages of Disco v ery: V isual Arts. New Y ork: Scholastic Inc., 1996.

197 L E S S O N P L A N : D A I L Y L I F E D A I L Y L I F E I N T H E R E NA I S S A N C E G R A D E L E V E L Upper Elementar y Junior High School, and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will look at paintings as illustrations of daily life. Students will document in writing what they see. Students will learn to use primary source materials as reference for details and facts about daily life. Students will write and design a newspaper T he Renaissance Times Students will work in groups to create a mural illustrating daily life in the Renaissance. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 6 Saint Eligius b y Petrus Christus S LIDE 8 T he Birth of the V irgin b y Fra Carne v ale S LIDE 25 T he Harvester s b y Pieter Brue g el the Elder A C T I V I T I E S F ORTHETEACHER : R ead the slide entries before you project the slides and keep in mind certain features of daily life that you want your students to notice. Refer to Daily Lif e c hecklist, p. 195, for objects. Project the slides, one at a time. W ith each image, ask students to describe what they see, not what they might ha v e read or heard. A few sample questions might include: 1. W here and how do people li v e? Describe the houses both in the country and in town. 2. How might the people in the paintings earn a living? 3. How do people dress? 4. W hat do they to like to do? 5. How was daily life the same for men and women? How was it dif f erent? 6. Does the artist let us know by what means people tra v eled? Does the artist gi v e us clues on how far people could tra v el during the sixteenth century? As the students ans w er the questions, ask them to describe how the artist has made them belie v e what they see. For example: T he atmosphere and the color of the sky tell us the time of day or the weather conditions. T he relati v e size of objects creates a sense of gr eat space and the beyond. Objects that came from far a wa y imply that someone must ha v e tra v eled long distances to obtain them. I fw hatso ev er has come unto us by r e port of w hat is past were true, and known b y any bod y it would be less than nothing in respect to that which is unknown. And ev en of this image of the w orld, which while we li ve therein glides and passes away how wretched, weak, and how short is the knowl edge of the most curious? Michel de Montaigne, 1588

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198 Ask students to pretend that they are journalists or foreign tra v elers. Ask them to choose one of the artworks, then to write an article or a letter that r e ports what they ha v e seen. R e f er to the description of A l b re c ht Dr e r s travels to Antw e r p in Source Material, p. 83. W R I T I N G A C T I V I T Y T H E R E NA I S S A N C E T I M E S Students can work in small g r oups and create an issue of a daily newspaper. Refer to the chec klist on pp. 195 and 196 for ideas; for example, students can write articles announcing the birth of Lorenzo de Medici, S LIDE 5 ; a marriage, S LIDE 7 ; a jousting tournament, S LIDE 23 and S LIDE 27 A RT A C T I V I T Y R E NA I S S A N C E L I F E : A M U R A L M A T E R I A L S r oll of paper, paints, brushes M O TIV A TION AND D ISCUSSION Ask students to brainstorm a list of ideas to be written on the board about daily life in the R enaissance. W hich of these ideas would they include in a mural? W ould they focus on the R enaissance town, the home, or the sur r ounding countryside? Divide the class into g r oups of f our students, with each g r oup assigned to a dif f erent r e s e a r ch task. Students may use the other images in the packet, art books, their social studies and science textbooks, movies, or other sources. For example: G R OUP 1: W ill resear c h town life. By looking at other paintings in the pac k et (for example, S LIDE 7 T he Story of Esther ) the students can make notes or small sketches of streets, homes, and c hur c hes. G R OUP 2: Country lif e G R OUP 3: F amily life, children, and school G R OUP 4: Soldiers and knights Documents and letters in Source Material will be helpful in r e s e a r ching these topics, especially the family letters of Alessandra Macinghi Str o zzi, p. 92, and Friedrich Behaim, p. 91, the doc uments and letters on apprenticeships, and the information on manners. H a ve students meet together to share their lists, drawings, and discussion ofwhat they f e e l should be included in the mural. Select a size for the mural and set out a sheet ofpaper of that size and shape on the f l o o r Draw a grid on the paper, with at least fiv e i n c h squares. After p re l i m i n a r y sk e t c hes and drawings are produced, these can be positioned, then transf e r red and painted on the mural paper.

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199 Again, within each lar g e g r oup, small g r oups can be assigned particular tasks in the la y out and ex ecution of the project. A g r oup of students assigned to plan the la y out of the mural can refer to specific ideas about composition (refer to Lesson Plans: Classical Composition, p. 141; Draw the Golden R ectangle, p. 147; and T he Story in Art, Part II, p. 153). One g r oup can be responsible for the buildings and ar c hitecture (refer to Lesson Plan: Linear One-Point Perspecti v e, p. 135). Another g r oup can position and rough out the figures (refer to Lesson Plans: Gesture, p. 125, and Drawing the Human Figure, p. 121). Other groups can add details to the faces, design the c l o t h i n g or paint the atmospheric p e r s p e c t i ve ofthe sky (r e f er to Lesson Plan: Aerial or Atmospheric P e r s p e c t i ve, p. 131). E X T E N S I O N S V ISUAL A R TS : Compare the student mural with T he Bloc k b y Romare Bearden (1912), a twentieth-century collage about daily life in New Y ork City

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201 L E S S O N P L A N : D A I L Y L I F E T I M E G R A D E L E V E L Elementary and Junior High O B J E C T I V E S Students will discuss time and its measurement in ancient, Renaissance, and moder n times. Students will look at a timepiece from the Renaissance, discussing its significance, its symbolism (if any), and how it reflects Renaissance thought. Students will make their own timepieces or choose an activity for further study from Extensions. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 26 Celestial Globe with Clockwor k D I S C U S S I O N Discuss how people keep track of time, today and throughout histor y.W hat are some of the w a ys in which people marked the time before clocks? (The seasons change, night and day alternate, the sun and other stars appear to mo v e across the sky, the moon c hanges phasesthese are some of the things that occur with r e gularity.) Dif f erent cul tures around the world de v eloped dif f erent methods of measuring time by obser v ation of natural phenomena. In addition, various devices like water clocks, candles marked with inter v als, hour g lasses, sundials, the Ma y an and Aztec calendars, and Stoneheng e w ere built to help keep track of the time. W hat were the ad v antages and disad v antages of each of these timekeepers? Do sundials work on cloudy days or at night? How often must hour g lasses be turned? W hat if the hole of a water clock gets clog g ed? Ask students to look c l o s e l y at the Celestial Globe with Cloc k wo r k It re p r esents the night sky as a sphere, with the constellations of the zodiac engra v ed on its outer surface. T he small golden Sun is located outside this orb, and students should imagine Earth inside the sphere, at its center but not visible. T he sphere and the Sun were set in motion b y a clockwork mechanism; therefore students should imagine that the Earth inside the globe would stay still. This is like being at a planetarium w h e r e the night sky is pr o j e c t e d onto a lar g e, cur v ed screen, and time is speeded up to make the stars seem as if they ar e moving .W e know today that it is the relati v ely rapid mo v ement of the Earth and not the slow mo v ement of the far-a wa y stars that creates this ef f ect. How does this idea fit in with the astronomical disco v eries of Copernicus and Galileo? Most people did not own their own c l o c ks in the Renaissance; they relied on the a p p a r ent motion of the sun and seasonal changes, or perhaps town clocks or chur ch bells. (The wor d clock comes from German and F r ench words for bell g loc ke and c loche )W ho most likely would ha v e owned a clock? (The first recorded clock was owned b y Pope Sylvester II in 996.) Would it be a status symbol or sign of p re s t i g e to have the B ut at my back I always hear T imes wingd chariot hur r ying near ; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of v ast eternity Fr om Andrew Mar v ell, To His Coy Mistress (1650)

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202 ability to measure time? Wh y or w h y not? Discuss the scientific interests of the age, the enter tainment value of such an instrument, the materials and workmanship, and the references to m ytholog y. Students may wish to compare this timepiece to watches and clocks today that impart status or entertain the wearer. Do we prize timepieces for their extreme accuracy and utility in scientific measurement? For their beauty and decoration? For other reasons? S C I E N C E A C T I V I T Y The teacher may wish to schedule a field trip to a planetarium so students can see an ideal night sky and identify some of the constellations. Since nighttime activities are dif f icult to schedule, and city lights interfere with seeing the stars through telescopes, the teacher may choose to have s t u d e n t s make a timepiece that operates by the sun rather than the stars. T he Resources section lists a number of books that gi ve instructions for making simple timepieces like sundials. One simple w a y is to roll out a slab of c lay to fit a dis posable plate, find the center point of the cir c le, then position a triangle-shaped piece of cardboard, plastic, or balsa wood (called a gnomon) as pictured and press it into the cla y. Go outside at 12:00 noon on a sunny day (1:00 P.M. dur ing Daylight Savings T ime) and place the sundials so that no shadow is cast by the gnomon. Lea v e the sundials for an hour, and then mark the position of the shadow on the c la y R e peat e v ery hour. If possible, lea v e the sundials until morning, then mark the position of the shado w ev ery hour until noon. E X T E N S I O N S L ANGU A GE A R TS : T he poem at the beginning of this lesson plan uses the metaphor ofa w i n ge d c h a r i o t to re p r esent time and d e s e rt to re p re s e n t eternity. Ha v e students identify some of the f eatures of the Celestial Globe (gold, silver, cir c le, mo v ement, P eg asus, wings) that might be metaphors for time. Is time precious? Is it related to a cir c le, with no beginning or end? Is it continually in motion? Does it gallop like a horse or ha vewings like Pegasus? What other metaphors or symbols oftime can studentsidentify? Make a list on the board, then have students c hoose one or two specific metaphors for time and write a short poem or a sentence. If selfhardening clay is used for the sundial activity abo v e, students could incise their writings into the surface of the cla y. L ANGU A GE A R TS : R ead the myth of Peg asus and Bellerophon. W hen P eg asus kic k ed a moun tain, a fountain called Hippocrene gushed f o r th. For this reason, Pegasus is inv o k ed as a symbol of poetic inspiration. Ask students if they ha v e e v er spent a long time trying to write some thing like a poem or essay for a school assignment. Has a sudden thought e v er occur r ed to

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203 them, inspiration popping into their head like a kick from a horse, releasing a flood of ideas or w ords? T he following segment of a longer poem by an English Renaissance author makes the connection between P eg asus and poetry: T hen who so will with vertuous deeds assa y T o mount to hea v en, on P eg asus must ride, And with s w eete P o ets verse be glorified. Fr om Edmund Spenser T he Ruines of Time (1591) L ANGU A GE A R TS : Students may wish to read the sonnets of Shakespeare or other poets who wrote about time, then create their own sonnet using the Celestial Globe as inspiration. (Lesson Plan: P o etic Forms, p. 159). S CIENCE : T here are many books on making various devices that measure time relati v e to the night sky and the mo v ement of constellations. Resear c h some of these methods, construct some simple timekeepers, and ha v e students check their accuracy against a clock. How did the obser v ation of the night sky lead to the disco v eries of Copernicus and Galileo about the mo vement of the Earth, stars, comets, planets, and other hea v enly bodies? S OCIAL S TUDIES : Ha v e students resear c h the dif f erent methods of telling time throughout the w orld. If possible, take them to a historic house or museum to see timepieces. S OCIAL S TUDIES /A RT : E x p l o r e the significance ofowning a timepiece in the Renaissance. Look at some ofthe other slides or prints and ask students to design a timepiece for an individual in one ofthe portraits. What kind ofw a t c h or c l o c k would that person need or want? W h a t d e c orations or symbols would be appropriate? In The Harvesters ( S L I D E 2 5 ), what are impor t a n t times for the w o r k ers to know? What would be a good timepiecea bell, a wristw a t c h, the sun? Would Saint Eligius ( S L I D E 6 ), being a goldsmith, make his own timepiece from some of t h e materials in his shop? Would he want people to see it as an example ofhis work? Would the woman in P o rt r ait ofMan and Woman at a Casement ( S L I D E 4 ) have an elaborately jeweled pendant or br o o c h? Would Duke Federico da Montef e l t r o ( S L I D E 9 ) and Erasmus ( S L I D E 1 7 ), both humanists, ha v e similar tastes in clocks or not? How would their tastes dif f er based on geo g raphical location, personality, and possible materials? R E S O U RC E S Branley, Franklyn M. K eeping Time Boston: Houghton Mif f lin Compan y 1993. J ob b Jamie. T he Night Sky Book Boston and T oronto: Little, Br o wn and Compan y 1977. Marshall, Roy K. S u n d i a l s New York: The Macmillan Company, 1963.

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205 L E S S O N P L A N : D A I L Y L I F E C O M PA R E A N D C O N T R A S T T WO K E Y B OA R D I N S T RU M E N T S G R A D E L E V E L Elementar y Junior High, and High School O B J E C T I V E S Students will look at two keyboard instruments, one from northern Europe and one from southern Europe. Students will create a V enn diagram to compare and contrast the two instruments. Students will design a keyboard instrument case. W O R K S O F A RT S LIDE 22 P entagonal Spinet b y an unknown maker S LIDE 28 Double V irginal b y Hans Ruc k ers the Elder M A T E R I A L S a variety of cardboard bo x es and pieces of cardboard in dif f erent sizes paints, markers, colored paper, glue, scissors M O T I V A T I O N A N D D I S C U S S I O N T he teacher may wish to begin this lesson by having students look at the inside of a piano, if one is a v ailable. Students who take piano lessons can lead the exploration, pointing out the strings stretched horizontally (grand piano) or vertically (studio or upright piano). Students can depress a key to demonstrate how a hammer strikes a course of metal strings and makes them vibrate; dampers stop the vibration. T he strings are attached to tuning pins, so that they can be adjusted in pitch, then they pass o v er a b r i d g e, transf e r ring the sound to the soundboard, w h e r e it is amplified. The foot pedals sustain or soften the sound, and loud and soft ef f ects can be achie v ed as well by the pressure of the pla y ers fingers. T he case of the piano is made from wood with metal r einforcements. S P I N E T A N D H A R P S I C H O R D P L U C K I N G M E C H A N I S M A ll keyboard instruments, indeed, are harmonious, because their consonances are perfect and they mak e possible many ef f ects whic h f ill the soul with s w eetness and melod y. Fr om Baldassare Castiglione, T he Book of the Courtier (1528)

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206 Compare the shape and size of the two instruments. W hat materials are they made of ? How are they decorated? W hat techniques, motifs, designs, or images are evident? Compare the two inscriptions, where they are located, the size of the lettering, and the text s messag e Who made the instruments? Who commissioned them? What names or g e o g raphical locations are associated with each instrument? How is sound produced in each instrument? A C T I V I T Y Ask students to design a case for a keyboard instrument. T heir ideas may be sketched on paper then transf e r red to a shoe b o x or other lightweight box that can be modified by cutting it or gluing on additional cardboard shapes. T he box may be co v ered with black paint, painted to r esemble wood, or marbleized. Students may apply cut-paper designs; strips of paper on whic h patterns ha v e been printed or stamped; paintings of dancers, musicians, or landscape scenes; Students also may wish to play ex c e r pts from diff e r ent pieces ofmusic on the piano, perhaps their recital solos. Ask students when these compositions w e r e written; ifthey w e r e written s p e c i fi c a l l y for the piano or transcribed from orchestral works; or ifthey are har p s i ch o r d pieces, s u c h as those written by Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, or another composer. I n t r oduce the slides ofthe spinet and the double virginal and ask students to compare these instruments to the piano. How are they alike and how are they dif f erent? Listen to examples of music pla y ed on harpsichords, spinets, or virginals. Using the information included in the pac k et, compare and contrast the two instruments. A helpful method is to draw a Venn diagram on the board or provide a handout sheet to each student with two o v erlapping cir c les, as shown belo w Label one cir c le spinet and write the unique characteristics ofthe spinet in that circle. Label the other circle v i rg i n a l and write its unique characteristics in that cir c le. W rite characteristics that the two instruments share in the ov erlapping section. SPINET SHARED VIRGINAL

G L O S S A R Y A CANTHUS A prickly plant with lar g e lea v es; used as ornament in ancient Greece and the Renaissance. A LT ARPIECE A religious painting composed of one or se v eral compartments or panels; intended to stand on or hang abo v e an altar A POCRYPHA Literall y things that ar e hidden. T he Apocrypha are not uni v ersall y accepted as of f icial scripture and are e xc luded from the old and new T estaments. B L UE T he color of the sky. In Christian painting it symbolizes Hea v en. Mar y, known as the Queen of Hea v en, wears a blue mantle. Blue pigment was deri v ed from either the mineral azurite, a copper carbonate mineral, or ultramarine, made from lapis lazuli. T he latter was very costl y. B URIN A pointed tool used to engra v e lines into a metal plate that is used for printmaking. Ink applied to the plate will sink into the engra v ed lines and transfer to the paper C AR T OUCHE An ornament in the shape of a scroll with ends folded back. C OFFERED Divided in squares, usually refers to a popular Renaissance ceiling treatment that used recessed squares. C OAT OF A RMS A heraldic device identifying a person, famil y or institution of the nobility C ONFRATERNITY An assembly of l a y persons dedicated to strict religious observ a n c e s C ORNICE A horizontal band that cr o wns the top of a building C UIRASS A piece of c lose-fitting armor for protecting the chest and back. D AMASCENED Metal w ork ornamented with an inlaid design. D IPTYCH A painting, usually an altarpiece, made up of two hinged panels. A tripty ch has three hinged panels. D OGE T he chief justice in the r e publics of V enice and Genoa. E MBOSSED Metal that is hammered, molded, or car v ed so as to create a bulge or an image in relief 209

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E NGRAVING A process used by printmakers who cut g r oo v es or pits into a wood b lock or metal plate with a sharp tool called a b urin .W hen the plate is inked, the printers ink sinks into the g r oo v es; then the plate is wiped, to remo v e the ink from the smooth areas. T he inked plate is pressed against damp paper by running both between two heavy rollers. T he pressure forces the softened paper into the g r oo v es to pull out the ink, w hich we see as lines. E NTABLATURE T he part of the building that is abo v e the columns, encompassing the ar c hitra v e, the frieze, and the cornice. T his element was first found in Greek ar c hitecture. F OREGROUND T he part of the painted image that appears closest to the viewer usually the lo w er area of the painting or other composition. T he backgr ound usually the upper area of the painting, appears to be farther back. T he middle g r ound is e v erything in between. G OLD A symbol of pure light, the hea v enly element in which God li v es. G RO TESQUE A type ofdecoration found on Roman wall paintings that w e r e ex c a v a t e d in the sixteenth centur y especially in Neros Golden House. T he wall paintings were found in under gr ound ca v es called g r ottoes, thus, the newly disco v ered ornamentation was called g r otesque. T hese wall decorations featured motifs characterized by imaginati v e, or g anic connections between disparate elements, including human figures, animals, insects, and birds, mythological and other fantastic beasts, ar c hitectural and plant elements. H AL O T he gold cir c le or disk placed behind the heads of Christ and saints, a symbol of their sanctity or the light of God. H AT CHING T he drawing or engraving of f ine parallel lines to show shading .W hen the lines intersect each other, it is called cross-hatching H ORIZON LINE T he line where the sky and earth appear to meet. T he horizon line is drawn across the picture at the artists eye le v el. H UE A particular variety of a color, shade, or tint. L UNETTE Luna means moon in Latin and Italian. A lunette is a semicircular shape, in this case abo v e the main panel of the Raphael altarpiece. M A GUS A member of the ancient Persian priestly caste, skilled in Eastern magic and astrolog y In the New T estament, the Magi are the three wise men w ho came from the East to pay homage to the newborn Christ Child. M AJOLICA T in-glazed earthenware. 210

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P ALAZZO An Italian word used to describe a lar g e building. It may be a mansion or palace, or an of f icial g ov ernment building like a town hall, court, or embassy P ASSION OR THE T he e v ents sur r ounding the Crucifixion of Christ; a popular subject P ASSION OF C HRIST f or religious drama, painting, and sculpture. P ERSPECTIVE A technique that artists use to r e present the three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional surface, such as a piece of paper, can v as, or wood panel. Using perspecti v e, an artist can create the illusion of depth or space and show the proper proportion between objects. W ithout perspecti v e a painting or drawing will appear flat. P ICTORIAL SP A CE T he illusion of three-dimensional space created on a two-dimensional surface. P REDELLA An Italian word for the series of small paintings that form the l o wer section of l a r ge altarpieces. The predella usually has nar r a t i ve scenes from the li v es of the saints who are r e presented on the main and side panels of the altarpiece. P UTT O Fr om the Latin word meaning male child. In fifteenthand sixteenthc e n t u r y po e t r y and painting, p u t t i a r e depicted with wings and connected with the god of lo v e, Eros, also known as Cupid. R ED In Christian paintings, a symbol of the blood of Christ or the P assion R ELIEF A raised surface; for example, sculpture that is car v ed or modeled and w hich projects from a backg r ound. S T AR In Christian paintings, a symbol of divine guidance or f av or .T he Star of the East guided the three Magi to Bethlehem. T RIUMPH An ancient Roman tradition honoring the r e t u r n ofa victorious g e n e r a l w ho paraded his soldiers, prisoners, and spoils through the city streets. T R OMPE L OEIL Fr e n c h for f ool the eye; a style ofpainting intended to trick the view e r into believing that the minutely obser v ed objects shown are part of the viewers three-dimensional world. V ANISHING POINT T he point where parallel lines appear to meet on the horizon line. 211